Team MSTG, Reforging a Broken Team
by Ky108
Summary: This an original story taking place in the RWBY universe following the adventures of team MSTG (Mustang) an original team filled with original characters. We join them after they split up and went their separate ways but from a single event they all come together to help sort the events of their past away and rekindle what they lost in the flames.
1. Memories

So before we begin I would like to state that this is my first-time publicly sharing my writing so I know there will be things wrong with it. (and there were a few things wrong even here) and I will gladly take any advice from you guys. be it some minor issues or some mammoth sized errors. Helpful feedback is always welcome because I know I am nowhere near perfect.

* * *

 **Memories**

This was supposed to be a simple Job for them; for Team MSTG but this became anything but simple, even still that might be an understatement. Minojent can never remember how everything started or how it all went downhill so fast.

All she could remember is that one moment, with the burning beams blocking the doorway allowing only the smallest windows to see through. Causing still pictures to form of what was happing on the other side till the beam fell closing it forever.

All Minojent could do was to keep trying to keep the pictures open and to dig through to the other side. For there he stood with his back to her holding a warriors stance not allowing fear to enter or to leave.

But keeping the windows open was a fruitless endeavor for they closed faster than she could keep any open. The only feelings she could feel were the flames licking her hands. The feelings of the burns splitting her skin.

"Come on we have to leave, he told us he would be fine; that he would find his own way out of this place," Minojent hear a voice from behind her.

All she wanted to say to her was 'that we had to stay and help him for that was what a team did,' Yet no words could escape her lips.

Becuase Minojent was to focus on rescue and she could not speak. With another shift, the beams fell revealing a larger window into this hellish scape. Yet even with that, he stood still looking away with almost a meditation like figure.

At this moment it was almost like he could read her mind for he turned slightly in her general direction. Then he moved his lips looking as if he was saying something but with nothing more than a whisper to leave his lips.

Then at that very moment, the rest of the wall fell closing every window that lay open to this other place.

"Are you two kidding me, we have to get out of here fast. We don't have time to wait any longer," As he said while pulling on her left arm while she pulled on her right arm. Dragging Minojent away from the now sealed door of flame never to be opened again. With the black void faintly closing around the doorway as it became smaller and smaller, all she could do was let out a fully heartfelt scream.

Then at that moment, Minojent woke up in a cold sweat that clung to every hair on her back and to the soles of her feet. The next thing that Minojent could see was the white lights that shone from the ceiling in this terminal and the support of the chair she was sitting in.

Then for the coming seconds afterward Minojent need to center herself, coming from that nightmare had always been tough. But with tomorrow being that day…. she could feel the memories becoming even stronger than before.

They always got worse, the closer to the anniversary it came. But as if to release her from the grip of that nightmare, Minojent heard the screech of her adoptive younger sibling.

So Minojent turned to look at him and there he was with one feet gripping his cage to keep balance and his beak trying to gnaw his way out. Even though they were in no part a member of the same family or even for that matter species. Talon, Minojent's pet eagle was in some ways the closest thing she ever felt to having a true family.

Being an orphan from an unfortunate Grimm attack on her birth village she never truly had a family. During the attack her mother and father were both killed, only she was saved because of a passing huntsman whom she never knew.

He brought her to an orphanage in Vale where she grew up always longing to know who saved her on that day.

But with Talon she felt as if she regained some essence of a family even though she knew that he could never fill that missing piece of her soul. All Minjonet could do was to just smile and laugh at such a primal instinct to be free from a prison that he didn't want to be in.

"Just calm down there Talon, you will be out as soon as we get over to Atlas. Can you possibly calm down for a second and act as civilized as possible," With that Talon stopped looked at her for a couple seconds as if he could totally understand her.

But no sooner did that come across her mind, there he went back to gnawing on the bars of his cage. All she could do was laugh at that and relax for it seem that it truly was what she needed. It always happened like this for somehow he always knew what she needed to see or hear to comfort her even when in some of the darkest pits of her mind.

And with that realization, Minojent couldn't help but laugh some more at what She had just thought.

"Talon. You truly are a brother to me," Minojent stated to him. That almost seemed like it made him stop he stop gnawing and he even took his foot of the cage and rested back on his perch.

That little distraction was all she need to see in order to get her to feel to better about everything. Now Minojent could sit back to relax after escaping that nightmare from the past. Though the relaxing wouldn't last as long as she hoped it would.

"Now receiving passengers for transport to Atlas, now boarding," With that announcement coming over the intercom Minojent decide she had waiting around long enough.

So with that, she got up from her seat grabbed both Talon's Cage and SkyCrest, her weapon of the trade. With Skycrest slung over her shoulder and Talon Firmly in hand she proceeded to the transport.

Even though the announcement was only just played over the intercom for the transport a line had already formed of businessman and families. All waiting for their trip either back to Atlas or their trip to Atlas. For Minojent it was the former for it was a reason she wishes she could forget.

As she got closer to the front of the line she could feel a mix of emotions. For one part of her was happy to see the rest of Team MTEG but the other side of her knew why they were doing it.

"Next please," chimed the attendant from behind the desk. As she approached the desk she handed the attendant her two seat tickets. "Thank you, Miss….. Angelo…. Who is the person to be traveling with you today?" she asked looking around for someone else.

"That would be my friend Talon right here" holding up his cage as he screeched at the attendant almost scaring her off her seat.

"I guess that is acceptable though normally we ask for our guests to leave pets at home or with their luggage," the attendant reported.

"I understand but seeing as I am not taking any luggage with me the gentleman who helped out with this flight told me that this would be alright," Minojent told her.

"Ah, alright, in that case, that should be alright. So is there anything else you are taking on to the ship today or is it just your pet" at that comment Talon once again shrieked at the attendant scaring her again.

"Yes there is one more item I'm bringing aboard," Minojent said as she lowered the sheathed Skycrest with her quiver from her shoulder and placed on the desk to the now very startled attendant.

"Is this a weapon?" she asked as though she already knew the answer before time.

"Yes, it is. I am a huntress so this should be alright correct?" Minojent declared with a slight hint of modesty in her voice.

"Ohh forgive me huntress sorry for the confusion. And yes Huntsman and Huntresses are allowed to bring their weapons aboard, however, we do confiscate them for the duration of the flight," The attendant said with a more assured pitch in her voice.

"But what about if we come under attack during the trip?" Minojent Ask

" _if_ or _when_ we do we will return your weapon back to you. But I find that very unlikely as we have been using the same route for years now without any trouble for the Grimm," The attendant said with her reassuring voice.

"Alright, then I will trust you. But I am also trusting you to return if the Grimm do attack," Minojent stated as she handed Skycrest and her quiver to the attendant who gave it to one of the guardsmen who was also flying along.

"And with that all sorted I hope you will enjoy your flight, Miss Angelo," the attendant said in a chipper voice as she handed back the tickets. With that Minojent picked up Talon's cage and proceeded to board her flight.

So Minojent bordered the transport setting Talon down on the other seat while she took her seat. As she laid back in her seat staring out the tiny window she was next to thinking of what tomorrow brings.

It will be nice to see everyone again but still kept dragging up those memories from that day. All most on cue again Talon screeched at her snapping her out of her train of thought causing Minojent turning her head to him.

There he was just looking around frantically not enjoying his new surroundings.

"Just calm down there Talon you will be alright, just calm down," Minojent told Talon. With that, he looked directly at her almost as if he understood her. But again no sooner did the thought cross her mind he just screeched again. "Oh this is going to be a long flight"


	2. Silence

**Silence**

The hallways had filled with a black smoke that almost seemed to spill in from the walls and the ceiling, leaving almost a pool of it on the floor. While Stella trudged through the smoke with the feeling the flames reaching out to her.

The hallway seemed to go on forever with doorways entering from the darkness and leaving sight in the same manner. Stella had thought of going down one of the passages but knew that none of them led to where she need to go. So she just kept running down the hallway never looking back, never wavering in her determination. With every step the flames seemed to grow more vicious to her presence, never wishing to let her go.

Even with the hellish landscape that Stella had to deal with she persevered with only the destination mattering to her. While the darkness never seemed to let up all that Stella could see was the darkness never moving, never-ending.

But as soon as the realization of events started to set in from just running down the hallway a small piece hope shone through. An end to hallway had just come into sight but with that hope finally insight a more daunting choice lay in front of her. For with this end two paths begun their journey down their own hallways, one lead to an exit with a bright light at the end of it. However, down the other hallway, the darkness engulfed the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. With the flames dancing in the shadows, shining the only light that the shadow would allow.

The lapping flames devouring anything within its reach, not caring what was once in its grasp. However the destination of both paths was known to her; one path led Stella to her teammates, the other path led Stella to her friends.

"Hey," came a tired but familiar voice over her scroll, "Can you do me a favor?"

Before Stella could answer the voice over her scroll, her eyes shot open with an almost a jolt to her body. Stella had moved with such a velocity that it startled some of the other people in the lobby causing many heads to turn towards her. As she composed herself with many deep, sharp breaths Stella looked around at the people around her. After the initial shock wore off people started to return to their business forgetting what had caused it in the first place.

When she finally calmed down all Stella could do was to look down into her hands with cold beads of sweat rolling around in her hands. "It's alright. Calm yourself down," Stella told herself trying to make herself believe her own words. After that one last reassurance, she could finally feel her breathing beginning to become normal. She sat up straight give one last sharp breath to calm ever nerve in her body.

With Stella finally calmed down she took out her scroll to see what time it was in the day. When Stella saw the time she internally freaked out not realizing how late in the day it had become so she got up grabbed Autem placing it on her back. With Iuris being secured to her hip so left and went to the nearest board. There she searched for Minojent transport trying to figure if it had arrived yet. After Stella had found it she looked over at the arrival time see if it had landed yet. To her shock, it had not landed yet but instead was delayed by what the board described as an unforeseen circumstance.

The new arrival time had been pushed back by almost half an hour. With that little bit of knowledge, she left the now crowding board to try to occupy her time.

With that Stella went over to the food court looking for something small to nibble on not wanting to eat too much. Soon after finding something to dine on Stella left the court on a way to find something else to keep her occupied. But as soon as she was leaving the court a child ran up to her with almost stars in his eyes. "Excuse me, are you a huntress?" He asked still with stars in his eyes. With that, she kneeled down to be more on his level.

"Yes I am a Huntress," she told him with a certain satisfaction in her voice.

"Are those your weapons that you are carrying?" he asked pointing to Autem on her back and Iuris on her left hip.

"They sure are," she stated as she took down Autem in her left hand with it fully extend out so he could touch it.

"Wow" as he reached touching Autem with his jaw hanging down in pure amazement.

"Come along now Ray, can't keep the Huntress distracted," the Boy's mother called out to him from across the room

"But Mom!" the boy cried out to his mother in disappointment.

"Come on Ray we will be late for the transport," the boy's mother stated.

"It's alright, just listen to your mother, you can't be late," Stella told the kid as she was putting away her shield.

"Fine," He said just before he ran back to his mother gripping her hand, with a smile that reached from ear to ear. Bouncing around as if the floors had just been replaced by a bouncy castle.

This brought back many memories not of that day but of her family and the times she spent with her sisters and brother. Stella always enjoyed the time she spent with her siblings, they would always play games with them. However Mother would always call them back to the house before the moon would rise just over the horizon. Always having six cups of hot chocolate ready for them; one cup with extra marshmallows for her eldest brother; two cups with extra chocolate for the twin older sisters; one cup with extra milk for her younger sister; one normal cup for Stella; and finally one cup with no marshmallows for their mother. With all of them sitting around the fireplace of the Scuti family house. Drinking their hot chocolate laughing at old stories of their grandfather's father and their grandmother's mother.

With those memories floating to the forefront of her mind caused a small smile to creep across her face. So as the boy and his mother left Stella's sight, she got up still with that smile on her face. With that she once again looked at her scroll to see that she managed to kill twenty minutes of her time. So with one last look around almost looking for the boy and his mother to bring back those memories. She turned around and headed back to the gates to meet Minojent so they two could meet once again.

Shortly before Stella had arrived to the gate they had already started to disembark from the transport. So Stella started to scan through the crowds to try to find her friend and teammate in the thick crowd.

After looking around for a couple seconds Stella heard a familiar sound that caused her to look straight up into the air. There circling around over her head was the familiar sight of Talon flying near the ceiling.

"Long time no see isn't that right Stella?" came Minojent's voice from the crowd.

Stella then looked down at where she had heard Minojent's voice and there she came out of the crowd. Still wearing her normal blue shirt underneath her cropped brown leather jacket with her blue scarf wrapped around her neck. With a pair of gray skin tight jeans with a tear just over the knee with a handkerchief wrapped just above it with a knee pad on the other knee. With her favorite pair of combat boots that rise just about halfway over her lower leg laced all the way up. Minojent's hair was in its usual curly brown mess with her goggles pressing down on the front of her hair with the band wrapping around her head allowing her green eyes to shine. With Skycreast resting just on her shoulder with a couple of arrows missing from the quiver on her hip and back.

"Great to see you again there Minojent, How was your trip?" Stella asked as the two managed to get closer together through the crowd.

"Oh you know cramped seats, a little bag of crackers for a snack, and a terrible in-flight movie," Minojent retorted in a kind manner.

"And the unforeseen circumstance?" Stella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing too big just a small pack of Gryphons, no more than… 20 of them. maybe 25 at the most," with that both of them just burst out laughing.

"But seriously there weren't too many of them and I wasn't the only Huntress on the transport. There were two other huntsman that helped clear out the Gryphons too." After saying that Talon flew down and landed on Minojent's shoulder giving a loud cry. "And Talon to he got a couple swipes in," Minojent acknowledge as she brushed under his beak.

"That's what they call an 'unforeseen circumstance' I would have called it an 'eventual circumstance' " Stella joked with a slight snicker from Stella.

"So how much do you want to bet that he's going to be late? Again," Minojent asked still in a joking manner.

"Oh I give him thirty minutes to an hour the real question is, does he still remember where we are meeting up?" Stella retorted still joking of course.

"Guess we just have to wait to find out" Stella stated as the two of them left the terminal, with Talon flying above them.


	3. Tortured

**Tortured**

There wasn't much left after the fire had consumed the building; storage, fuel, walls, and even the people that weren't lucky. That was the thought that went through Tanner's mind as he gazed down to a pile of ash. There wasn't much surrounding the pile though what was surrounding was enough to leave a pit in his stomach. Around the pile was only two items of worth wild importance, one was an arm wrapped in a gray sleeve and a lower half of a leg wrapped in black jeans. Tanner couldn't look away from the pile as the surrounding environment began to fade away leaving only a white backdrop.

"You failed me" an ominous voice declared as if it was around him. "You failed me…."

"You told me to make sure they were out of here," Tanner said with terror in his voice. "I made sure they got out of there."

"You left me to die" came the voice once again howling from everywhere. "You left me to die!"

"I did only as you…." Tanner spoke before being cut off mid sentence by the voice once again.

"YOU LET ME DIE!" This caused Tanner to fall to his hands with his face directly over the leg. With this, the ash began to swirl upwards taking the shape of a human being but with no face. But with the right arm missing and the lower left leg missing. "Now so shall you" the voice declared as he lifted his left arm above its head as if to stab Tanner were he kneeled.

"Please no, please no" Tanner begged has he looked up to his attacker were his eyes would have been.

"EXEPCET YOUR DEATH" it yelled at him as the arm came swinging down to his head.

"NO!" Tanner yelled as he flung himself up from the bed he lay in. With cold beads of sweat cling to his forehead, his eyes widen by terror and adrenaline flowing through his system. His hands dug into the mattress as if he was trying to contain himself to try and find some stability. He shifted his feet to hang over the bed so he was now sitting with his hands holding his head up. As Tanner sat there he slowed his breathing allowing for more air to fill his lungs. "How many times have I relived that dream, how many times will I have to relive that."

After he calmed his nerves he stood up from the bed he could feel his legs almost give out on him. Finding his support from the small nightstand next to the bed allowing him to somewhat stand up. "Come on man you have to get over it, It was only a dream, A terrible and sad one but a dream none the less," Tanner said quietly trying to reassure himself.

Right then he let go of the nightstand to stand on his own two feet. With that, he walked over to his pack and opened it to reveal his usual blue jeans fold up. Next to his jeans was his normal brown shirt that he tore off the sleeves from with his two orange arm bands laying on top. He grabbed his clothes and slipped them on buttoning up his shirt leaving just the top two buttons undone as he always did.

After his clothes were removed from his pack he found his two weapons laying at the bottom of the bag. Base cutter, his two Katar weapons with a sub-machine pistol located in each blade. For now, their blades were wrapped up in a silk cloth that was attached to the brace to protect the blades and everything around them for that matter. He proceeded to hang them from the back of his belt with both blades crossed over.

Tanner then went back to the nightstand that helped him save face but this time it wasn't meant to help him stay up. This time it was to retrieve his scroll, sunglasses, headphones, and his speaker that he always kept on the left side of his hip. He folded out his sunglasses and then rested them over his hazel eyes, with his headphones wrapped around his neck. With that, he headed over to the door to his room to find his shoes sitting off to the side of the door.

After he laced up his shoes he opened up the door to head on to the deck of the ship he was currently traveling on to reach Atlas. Once outside he headed over to the railing to lean over to breath in the salty sea air. Tanner leaned on that railing for what seemed like minutes but hours drifted by without him noticing it.

"Excuse me, sir," came a small quiet voice from behind him snapping Tanner out of his daze. With that, he spun around to see who was talking to him but at first, he didn't see anyone just the wall to his room. "Excuse me, down here" the voice came again causing Tanner to look down to see a young Faunus girl stand there holding a small doll.

"Sorry about you caught me in a bit of a daze," Tanner apologizing to the girl as he squatted down to talk to her better. "How is it going there, kid."

"I am not a kid anymore, I am 10 years old," the little girl corrected him now with her eyes turned down to her doll, away from Tanner

"Oh, I'm sorry there I didn't mean to be rude to you." Tanner apologizing to the girl trying to keep himself from smiling or laughing. Though he found it to be very difficult considering the circumstance.

"It's alright," she said no longer looking down to her doll. "What are those thing hanging off your waist?" she asked as she pointed to Base Cutter.

"Oh those silly things, they are…." Tanner stuttered trying to figure the best way to say it "eh just tools of the trade for me." He stated trying not to scare the little girl.

"Are you huntsman?" she asked with her eyes now looking up to him. This caused a small smile to form at the corner of Tanners mouth, creeping across his face

"How did you know," Tanner asked still with a smile at the end of his mouth.

"I guessed. Did you save many people?" The little girl asked still looking at him with now almost a gleam in her eyes now.

With that Tanner thought back to his nightmare hearing the dark foreboding voice again. "Some, not as many as I could of but, more than my fair share though," He said with his voice hanging low and his eyes looking down to the deck now.

"Oh," she said as her eyes seemed to lose that glimmer of light in her eyes, "was any of them your friends?" she asked once again.

"Enough about me, how about you, are you traveling with your family to Atlas?" Tanner asked trying to change the subject quickly.

"I'm with my family but we are traveling to Menagerie just stopping in Atlas for a bit." The little girl quickly answering, "They say it filled with mean people," The girl stated.

"I think I know what you mean by 'mean people', but don't forget where there are mean people there are nice ones too," Tanner stated try to reassure the little girl which seemed to work for now she was looking directly at him again.

"Are you traveling to Atlas?" she asked Tanner with curiosity in her voice once again.

"I am actually, I'm going to meet some old friends," Tanner stated with a smile once again on his face.

"Are they nice?" she asked trying to keep their conversation going.

"One of them is very nice, the other one…." Tanner stalled thinking of his friends. "The other one is not so nice though she isn't that mean either," Tanner stated.

Almost as on cue a voice came over the intercom "Attention everyone we're about to reach the port for Atlas, everyone who is heading to Menagerie we will have a short layover for about an hour, if you wish to look around the market stalls around the port just let one of the staff know so they can make sure we don't leave without you." The voice being the captain of the ship.

"Well, I guess I need to get ready to get off of the ship, and you should run back to your family before they start to worry." Tanner speaking to the little girl just after the announcement.

"OK," she said just before turning around too started to walk down the deck but just before she got 6 steps away from him she turned around and asked "what's your name? If you don't mind me asking".

"Me? My name is Tanner Ocaso, you better remember it because one day I will be famous and you can brag to your friends that you know me before I was famous." Tanner stated with a wide grin on his face.

"YAY RIGHT!" she yelled as she ran back to her family laughing and giggling. With that Tanner went into his room and grabbed his pack to get ready to leave the ship.

After he got off the ship he wandered around the market not looking for anything of any particular reason. After some time wandering the market and now with a pack full of this and that he proceeded to head to their meeting place, but on the way, he got distracted by many different stalls on his path.

When he finally got to the FrozenHole he looked around to see if could see his friend's, with a quick look around he, manage to make out one of them out. There sitting in a chair with her back turned to him he could make a yellow jacket with a pair of white sleeves coming out of the jacket. Her blonde hair laying down on her shoulders with a grace that Tanner never really understood. His hair was in contrast to hers, he kept his black hair in a dreadlock style that he usually let hang down from the back of his head.

"Of course I had run into her first" Tanner stated with a hint of disgust in his voice. So he walked over to her trying to act as if everything is alright. "How's it going you Highness?" Tanner asked in a joking tone of voice from behind her.

Stella reacted quickly leaping from her seat spinning around to meet Tanner face to face. She quickly frowned at the sight of Tanner, this just gave him a reason to smile a bit. She quickly placed her face into her right hand, shaking her head back and forth. "Why couldn't you have shown up five minutes later?" Erin retorted with her head still planted in the palm of her hand. But before Tanner could answer another familiar voice rang up from the crowd,

"HA! I told you there was no way he would have been that late." Tanner quickly turned to the sound of the voice to see Minojent heading over to the table with three bottles of soda in her hands. When Minojent finally got over to the table she sat the three drinks down each one in front of a seat. With that Tanner grabbed his seat and spun it around before sitting down resting his arms on the back of the chair.

"Guess drinks are on you today, Isn't that right Stella," Minojent stated as she sat down in her chair with Stella quickly sitting down as well crossing her legs under her yellow skirt. With that Stella looked up at Tanner with her amber eyes

"Why couldn't have been five more minutes," Stella asked Tanner with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

It took Tanner a couple minutes to piece altogether "Wait, wait, wait. you to had a bet on how late I was going to be?" Tanner asked in shock but the only answer he got was the two of them nodding their heads. "I feel hurt you know" Tanner stated with somewhat of a grin still on his face.

"Well you get the next round if it makes you feel better," Stella retorted with a look of disapproval on her face.

"Nah I'm good," Tanner said before reaching for his glass with a grin over his lips. With that a somber silence fell over them all three of them remember why they got together today. Before anyone could speak Minojent Raised her drink into the air

"To Grey Chinook," she said with her bottle still in the air,

"To Grey," Stella raising her bottle to join with Minojent.

"To Sharp Eye" Tanner also raising his bottle to the other as they clinked them together.


	4. Ghost

**Ghost**

The smoke was thick in this room casting a cloud of grey everywhere he could see with it also filling his nostrils with the smell of soot. The fire had surrounded them not allowing either body to leave this enclosure of heat. He could see the other's eyes and he was sure that the other could see his eyes even under the scowl. They both stood still as if their bones had been fused together to form a statue of flesh and blood.

"Any final wish that I may be able to grant you?" the other asked still not with no movement.

"This the coming from the man that wants to kill me is asking me if there anything he can do for me. How about you don't kill me and hand yourself in." Grey joking suggested.

"We both know that I cannot honour that request, I will permit you to answer the question one more time." The other said gripping the sheath of his sword. At that moment a beam of a fire fell down to the left of them, nowhere near them, but close enough to feel the heat radiating from it.

"Well then how about this then, only one of us will leave here in one piece and the other. Well, I guess we will find out won't we?" Grey respond though now he meant every word he said. "I think you can honour that request."

"I do believe I can" The figure agreeing with him from across the room as he was drawing the blade from the sheath. At that moment another beam fell down crashing into the cold floor. "I guess that was our cue? Wasn't?" he said "Well let's get started then" and with that, another beam fell down. But before the two could fight Grey could hear a buzzing sound emitting from everywhere.

When Greys Eyes opened he found what was causing the annoying buzzing that woke him from his dream. His infernal alarm was doing its job to wake him up to make sure he did not sleep the day away. Still drowsy he swiped towards the alarm with his left hand causing the alarm to silence the sound it was making. With the noise finally silenced Grey decided to attempt to sit up with using his left arm as support to help him sit up.

He looked over to the calendar that he pinned over on the opposite wall with today's date circled. "That explains the dream I was having. It's that day again" Grey said aloud even though no one was there to hear him.

Though as he sat there Grey could feel the pain in his right arm and his lower left leg acting up. There wasn't much he could do about the pain but with living with it for so long he developed a tolerance to it.

As if to just annoy him he could hear his alarm producing that same infernal sound once again. "Really? I thought I shut you up?" Grey directing his attention towards his alarm clock. He then proceeded to silence his alarm clock once again this time making sure it wouldn't act up again.

After he did that he turned to the side of his bed allowing him to sit there his right leg hanging down over the bed. With his left, arm he grabbed his prosthetic leg and fitted to the metal connector on the stump of his upper left leg. With his leg finally attached he stood up and turned towards his nightstand where his prosthetic arm lay. He then grabbed it and attached it to the connector on his right shoulder allowing him to use his arm again.

With all his prosthetics attached to his body once again a morning ritual, he had grown accustomed to. Grey went over to his wardrobe to get ready for what the day would present to him. Grey opened the doors to his wardrobe to find his normal attire waiting for him there, a pair of black jeans with a blue shirt hanging up on a hanger. He through his attire on tucking his shirt slightly in to allow some of his shirt to hang out on his side.

After Grey was finished he looked over to the right door of his wardrobe. Where his grey trench coat was hanging. With the sleeves rolled up with his toque nested in the left most sleeve underneath the strap that helped keep the arms rolled up.

He then looked over to the door on his left where a tattered trench coat, shirt, and pants hung with many slight burns along the outside of clothes with the right sleeve and lower pant leg missing. Grey looked at the outfit for a while think over why he kept it in the first place. It wasn't because he could wear again but for a reminder of what he lost, what he had to protect, and what he could lose.

He grabbed his other coat throwing it over his right shoulder and closing the door to the wardrobe leaving the thoughts he had with the burnt outfit. He then proceeded to slip arms through his coat allowing it to rest on his shoulders keeping the coat open as he has always done. Letting it hang down resting just above his ankles.

After he had everything on he went over to a small mirror that he hung next to the door to make sure he ready for whatever came his way. As he was styling his white hair lifting the front of his hair with a mess of hair everywhere else making sure his hair had not grown long on his neck or face. Then he stopped and looked into his own eyes and turned to a table that was sitting in the far corner of his room.

On the table rested Fang and Claw, his dual pistols that he used so often in the past along and any contracts to help pay for his rent with the visor that allowed him to aim them accurately. He didn't think about what he was doing but Grey slowly walked over to table and just stood over it. After a while he grabbed Fang in his left hand lifting it of the table.

As he was raised Fang from the table he felt the weight of the pistol in his hand as if it was the first time he held it. Grey held it there for what seemed an eternity but only a couple minutes had passed in actuality. He was trying to recall the last time he held Fang or even Claw for that matter, but all he could recall was that night, "I know it hasn't been that long. But I guess with today being the anniversary it would be the first thing in my mind.

He sat Fang back down alongside Claw then he picked Claw holding it in his right hand. It still felt odd to hold Claw in his "new" hand but it also felt right as well.

He then decided to walk back over to the wardrobe and grab his holster that he left in there. He threw it under his coat then holstered both Fang and Claw back under his arms. With his weapons back on his person, he felt a wave of comfort that he had not felt in a long time even on those mercenary contracts.

Then he looked back to the table and picked up his visor figuring if he was taking his weapons he should take his scope. He laid them over his eyes and as soon as he did they folded back over his ears. Allowing hime to see uniterubted.

With that, he went over to his door where he found his grey boots sitting next to his door almost waiting for him. He slipped them on and proceed to head out of his door to the hallway that connected his room to others. He proceeded to head down the hallway to the elevator listening to the voices of the people around him. As he walked down the hallway he could feel the negative emotions around him not enough to worry about but enough that it caused him to be discomforted as he walked by. When he finally reached the elevator he pressed the button to take him to the ground floor. After it started to move he felt the discomfort leave his being allowing Grey to collect his thoughts.

He walked through the morning crowd that had formed on the street passing people by that went on with their day. Though for Grey this day was anything but normal the people might not have known it but they were passing a dead man. Grey had become accustomed to the feeling that came from in that, but it was still a nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

After a brisk walk for about an hour, Grey finally reached where he was heading to. A small coffee shop just on a corner of two streets with large glass windows around the outside of the store.

So he went in and sat down at a corner booth at the back of the store with an excellent view of the Frozenhole across the street. Grey ordered a regular coffee then just stared over to the restaurant where his gaze was fixed on two people sitting around a table talking and laughing. From what Grey could see it appered that Minjonet and Stella were sharing details from their past year

"Your coffee sir," a waitress said breaking Grey out of his concentration with his drink still on her tray.

"Ohh Thank you," Grey said as he took his coffee from her sitting it down on the table just in front of him. As soon as he sat the coffee down his gaze turn back to the Frozenhole where now Minjonet had left with Stella just sitting there.

"Do you know those people over there?" the waitress asked looking over at the table that Grey had been watching.

"No but they remind me of some friends I used to know" Grey said still looking at the table while trying to say it as distant as possible.

"If you like I could ask them to come over here if you like." The waitress suggested.

"ooohh no it…..it's alright I don't want disturbed them," he told the waitress in a shocked response.

As if some greater power was intervening another waitress had just rushed over "Sorry for interrupting, but I have to steal you away, we have a large party coming in later we need to get ready for them," the second waitress told the other one.

"Alright, sorry I have to leave," the first waitress said to Grey as she hurried off.

After both of them went away Grey looked back over to the table where now joined Tanner had meet up with Stella with Minjonet coming out with some drinks in habd

It was nice to see his friends and teammates again even though he could not talk to them for if he did it would most likely end with terrible consequences for everyone.

As he watched them they raised their glasses in a toast to what he could only think was in memory to him. So Grey raised his cup with them and he made a silent toast to his former team, "To Team MSTG" Grey silently declared as he lowered his cup a started to drink his coffee


	5. Shattered Links

**Shattered Links**

It had been a long time for the three of them, so long in fact that Minjonet could hardly remember the last time they laughed. But here they were laughing around their table with many of their drinks finished with the empty bottles lying on the table. With the second and third rounds empty lay with the rest of the bottles. Now they reminiscing on their old friend and some of their fondest memories for him.

"Yeah, but what would you two idiots always say to each other?" Stella asked Tanner "Wasn't it about how Grey fought. Right?"

"OH YEAH!" Tanner just clueing completely missing the fact that Stella called him an Idiot "I guess it was our thing, I always told him that he needed to learn how to throw a punch and he would say…."

"He would say that you need to learn how to take a punch" Minjonet interrupting Tanner, though no one seemed to mind not even Tanner he just kept a smile on his face. They all just started to laugh at that. Though after they had stopped laughing a dreadful silence fell over the three of them with Minjonet just staring down at her drink. "It has been a long time since we have all laughed like that hasn't it, " She said

"Yeah, it's been while even when get together it's very rare for us to laugh" Stella stated, "though I guess it also shows that we have healed a little bit through the years."

"I guess that's true your Highness though it still sucks that he had to kick the bucket even though he made sure we got out of there," Tanner said though he did have a point Minjonet couldn't help but think about what he said. What would have their lives looked like if Grey was with them today, would they even have been there.

Though what they didn't know was Grey was down the street in a café watching them trying to figure out what they were saying. But he knew that he could never join them the risks that would come from him showing himself would be too great for them. So he was to keep his distance from them not for a selfish reason but for them.

At that moment Tanner stood up from his seat "Hey I'll go grab our next round still just the normal drinks right? Ginger ale for you angel and a cream soda for your Highness?" Tanner asked as he started to walk away from the table and into the restaurant.

"Why can't you just say our actual names and not your stupid nicknames for us? And why 'Your Highness' really?" Stella asked as if she didn't aspect the outcome.

"it's easier for me to remember nicknames instead of actual names though, after all, I have remembered your names. Though I have used them for so long it's just normal now," Tanner stated as he walked away, "and for 'Your Highness' because you act like royalty and have a stick shoved so far up there." He said turning around just so you could see his smile as if he was saying he was kidding but before Stella Could say anything he already disappeared inside.

This caused Minjonet to snicker a little bit though as Tanner walked away. Stella, on the other hand, was on the other side of the spectrum with more of a scowl on her face.

"How did we get stuck with him on our team, He is still as annoying as ever," Stella said in a lowered voice.

"Well to your first question that one speaks for its self after all weren't you two paired up during the first test." Minjonet retorted "but I guess he was also the humor for our team never really taking or saying anything seriously"

"I guess so but he is still annoying though," Stella stated still with a lowered voice but not as low as it once was. "Now that he's gone though I need to ask you something and before I go much further I need to let you know it would be dangerous, " Stella asked back to her normal self.

"Sure but why did you have to wait for him to leave after all I thought you two were such great friends." Minjonet stated in a joking manner "But sure I'll bite what's up?"

"Please don't lump me and him together, " Stella said with a hint of disgust "So about what I wanted to discuss with you. As I am sure you know I have been helping a small village just on the very southern tip of Atlas. Helping them fend of Grimm attacks at first it wasn't so bad there would be the odd Beowolf Attack ever now and then. But their attacks have been getting a lot more savaged recently the village has been considering to hire another Huntsman or even two for that matter."

"So let me guess you want me to come with you and help you just like the old times. Right?" Minjonet asked, "Because we could have Tanner come along for the extra help after all, when it comes to fighting Grimm he isn't the best but he can still help."

"I rather not ask him, to be honest, it would feel too much like we were trying to get the team together and besides you know how much I dislike him" Stella Stated but before Minjonet Could Respond she was interrupted by a familiar voice

"Well don't I feel hurt," Tanner said from their side of the two of them causing him to surprise the two of them epically Stella. "I always knew you never liked me" He joked as he hands the two their drinks "but to dislike me wow never knew you cared that much" trying to make a jab towards Stella "So what are you two talking about while I was away?" he asked

Shocked that he got back so fast Stella tried to do a little bit of damage control. "Oh, nothing Minjonet thought that we could …."

"Stella was asking me if I could help her out with some Grimm that are terrorizing a small village that she was helping to defend," Minjonet responded cutting off Stella before she could finish her train of thought. "She was wondering if I could help her but I have other things going on,"

Minjonet just started to look down at the drink she was handed, she didn't look at her friends after she lied to them. Truthfully she had nothing going later, most likely heading back to Vale or to some other settlement that could use a Huntress' help. But she had no desire to team back with her former teammates. For only one simple reason, she didn't want to lose another friend again, not like Grey. She started to fell back into her memories of the times she would spend with him together. Then no sooner did she lose herself into her memories her friends snapped her back into reality.

"Alright then. It's ok Minjonet" Stella said in a lowered voice, however, Minjonet could almost hear Stella's disappointment in her voice. "I guess I could protect the village by myself. Not like I have been doing it for a while."

"Hey come on now have you forgotten about me already?" Tanner asked with a hint of both humor and actual sadness. Though Minjonet couldn't tell why he would feel hurt by that fact those two never saw eye to eye. "Though I would've told yeah that wouldn't happen." even with those words Minjonet could even tell that statement wasn't completely true but even still she figured it was better to be silent.

"Well good, I wasn't even going to ask you any ways" Stella stated with a hint of something similar to disgust but was somehow closer to Sadness. "Anyways I have to get going, I need to get back to the village before sun down. The Grimm have been getting more active lately."

"Before sun down?" Tanner chuckled as he saying that "Is our little highness still afraid of the dark?" saying that in the most degrading voice he could offer with a hint of laughter in his voice. Though after the words left his mouth he started laughing very loudly.

"OH WOULD YOU SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Stella shouted towards Tanner as Minjonet couldn't help but laugh along with Tanner a little quieter than Tanner but laughing the same. "You know perfectly well why I want to get back before sun down and it has nothing to do with being afraid of the dark!" Stella shouted but down a few octaves though it seemed to cause Tanner to laugh even harder.

"HA HA. Oh man, thanks for that Princess I really need that." Tanner slowly coming down from his laughing fit. "Ha, oh man that was great" after he said that he quickly took a deep breath and silence fell over the group again.

It took a couple minutes before anyone spook up but Minjonet was the first to speak up. "Well I guess I have to get going myself, I think there is enough time to find a transport back to Vale," She said as she rose up from her seat. Once again almost on cue Talon came flying down and rested on Minjonet's shoulder give a loud cry when he felt secure on her shoulder.

"How is it going Talon? I was just about to ask where you were at." Tanner asked Talon as if he could answer. Though Talon did give a quick cry as if he was answering Tanner though Minjonet new better.

"Well, I better going myself" Stella Stated as she stood up from the table herself. "It's a long road back to the village but if I leave now I might be able to make it still."

"Really both of you are leaving already?" Tanner asked the two of them as he still sat down at the table.

"And you're not?" Stella asked back to Tanner. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Of course I don't," He said as he leaned on the back of the chair reaching for his drink. "Have you ever known me to have a plan?"

"No, but if you ever did, I would think you finally grew a brain cell in there," Stella commented before everyone left on their separate ways. With Tanner still drinking at the table with Stella and Minjonet heading in different directions.


	6. Sun Down

**Sun Down**

It wasn't a long walk from the small settlement where Stella meet up with everyone but it still took longer than she thought. Though it wasn't a terrible walk by any stretch of the imagination. Even during the season, the trees were covered in a layer of frost.

The path to the village was along the coast line with the frozen trees to her left and the sea on the other side. She had Autem, her shield fold up resting on her back with Iuris, her sword resting in its sheath on her hip. Though they were never there for the whole trip, there were a few small encounters by both bandits and Grimm.

Eventually, Stella reached a small hill that symbolized the near end of her journey just over the top of the hill lay the little fishing village she helped protect. "I wonder if any fisherman had a good hall today?" she wondered aloud. Though once Stella got to the top of the hill the sight that lay before her was not the one she was expecting.

Even though she was only gone the day she could see dark smoke rising from the roof tops over the stone wall that lined the village. Stella fearing the worst drew Iuris from its sheath gripping it tightly in her right hand. While she grabbed Autem off of her back having it fully unfold forming the full kite shield she always used. With that she started to run towards the village with one singular thought in her mind, "I hope no one has is to gravely hurt" she whispered under her breath

As she neared the village she got a better look on how bad the situation had unfolded. As Stella got closer to the village she got a better look at the stone wall and many of the marks that were dug into the stone. Many of the marks were old some from bandit attacks but much more were done by Grimm trying to get inside the village but there were some fresh marks that lined the wall.

Though her worst fears were soon realized as she arrived at the main gate. Though the main gate was made of wood it had stood firm through many encounters. However now the main gate looked as if it was blown apart by a cannon with many of the boards splintered.

Though the most troubling thing wasn't the gate open wide but the claw marks that were carved into the wood. This caused Stella's heart to sink in her chest as she worried for the people in the village.

With that Stella rushed into the village fearing the worst so once she passed the gate she quickly raised her shield in front of her. At a slight angle so she could see over it but enough to cover most of her body for protection. Though once she got a better look at the village square she slowly lowered her shield as she saw people helping each other. Throughout the whole square, there was turned over stalls with many buildings falling down.

After a quick scan to make sure there was no immediate danger she quickly rushed over to someone try to help another person out from under the rubble. Using her shield to help hold up a piece of wall that had fallen down on the poor soul. "What happened here?" she quickly asked the man as he crawled out from underneath the rubble.

"It was a terrible event," he said with a hint of laboured breathing as he crawled out from under the wall. "It started as small bandit raid nothing we couldn't handle. But what happened next was nothing we couldn't have suspected."

Once he finally he crawled out of form under rumble Stella removed Autem from underneath the wall causing to fall to the floor with a thud. With that, she propped him against a still standing wall as he was catching his breath. "So what happened?" Stella asking with a small tone of annoyance hanging off of her voice.

After a few deep quick breaths, the man described the whole encounter. "At first there was a small bandit group trying to extort us for some Lien and or some Dust if we had it laying around." The man stated as he sat against the wall. "At first they couldn't get around the wall and The Atlesian K50s were enough to keep them at bay. But where there is violence there is despair and where there is despair the Creatures of Grimm aren't far away." Trailing off at the end as finished his thought.

Stella quickly checked for a pulse to make sure the man had not just died on her. After finding a faint pulse she quickly waved down a passing person to help carry him to somewhere to get the help he needed. Though on her walk over to the makeshift emergency area she asked the kind lady who was helping her. "Did the Grimm really attack here?"

"Unfortunately yes." The young women stated. "It was the worst thing I have seen in a long time. There must have been a passing pack of Ursas as at first they were attacking the bandits but not long after they wanted into the village."

At this moment they had arrived at the emergency tents and after they found an empty cot and a nurse to help the poor man Stella resumed her questioning. "OK, that explains why the main gate is completely shattered it had a hard time holding back Beowolves but a pack of Ursas could defiantly destroy it. But what happened after, couldn't a handful of K50s possibly kill a pack of Ursas?"

"Well to correct you on one aspect" the young women quickly chimed in. "it was one Ursa Major that torn down the gate." This cause Stella to worry, a pack of Ursa, not a big deal but a pack lead by an Ursa Major that could pose a problem "And secondly the K50s did hold out for a while taking a couple of Ursas down before they were all dismantled by Ursa Major." The young Lady continued snapping Stella out of her train of thought "though, in all honesty, we got lucky a passing Huntsman managed to lead the Ursa Major out of the village, though we haven't seen him return yet." The last bit of her sentence carrying a hint of concern in her voice

"How long has it been since he left?" Stella asked quickly in hopes it was not long ago though she didn't believe in that.

"It's hard to say" the young lady responded. "Maybe an hour at most?" she said with very little confidence in her voice

This caused Stella's heart to fall, the lone soul who managed to protect the village while she was gone was missing and not just that but the sun hung low in the sky with the moon creeping over the horizon. "Which way did he go?" she quickly asked this time with her voice full of urgency.

The young lady quickly pointed into the woods "He headed northward when he first left but it's hard to say…" her voice quickly drifted as Stella quickly raced into the direction of the forest. "Where are you going?!" the young lady quickly asked towards Stella.

"To find him and bring him back!" Stella yelled back as she raced into the forest to find the man who helped save the village.

While Stella was never the strongest tracker of her former team as she started towards the forest the words of her old Grandfather rang in her head. "When following a large Beast such as an Ursa you don't need to rely on the directions of their prints. Only the path of broken branches and toppled trees for they do not care for subtlety." And thankfully the old words of her grandfather were true in this case.

At the edge of the forest there was no obvious path to follow but only a few feet into the forest the path was laid clear as day. The scene was looked as if someone decides to carve a giant circle into the forest. "Granddad, you are right once again," Stella stated with a smile forming at the corner of her mouth.

She followed the path for what seemed to be all most as long of a route she took to get to the village. Hoping over fall logs with Autem and Iuris still drawn and ready for the eventual battle with the sun slowly falling. For some time it seemed like she might have been too late to save the poor soul but a sudden noise told otherwise. A quick scream could be heard through the forest and thankfully for Stella, it sounded close. She quickly raced in the direction of the scream and eventually found the source of it in a small clearing.

There crawled up in a tree was presumably the man who had lead the Ursa Major away from the village. And at the foot of the tree the Ursa Major who looked as if it was trying to topple the old tree. The man quickly caught sight of Stella in the little clearing. "PLEASE HELP ME!" the man begging for his life.

"Just hold on!" Stella responded to the obviously scarce man.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM DOING?! HOLDING A TEA PARTY WITH THIS MONSTER?!" He responded in a manner that quickly reminded Stella of Tanner.

"Fine." Stella stated as she shifted her gaze back to the obvious problem, with the Ursa still focusing on the man completely ignoring her. "Well, first I have to get it attention." She stated as she quickly transformed Iuris into its second form, an over/under double Barrel shot gun with the inside of the blade wrapping around to form the stock of the gun. With two quick pulls of the trigger, both barrels fired their respected round towards the Ursa, shifting its attention to towards its new attacker.

"Hello there" Stella quickly taunted the Ursa as she reloaded Iuris and shifted it back to sword form now holding her shield in front.

The Ursa let out a loud roar just before it charged Stella as it quickly slashed it claws towards her but still was able to block the attack using Autem to hold its paw above her head. With that, she quickly slashed towards the Ursa with Iuris but before the attack could land the Ursa moved back to avoid the attack. "So you are smarter than the average Ursa." Stella once again taunting the beast.

The Ursa quickly charged at Stella again but this time throwing its shoulder towards her that she was able to block again but she was pushed back some distance. Stella quickly looked over her shoulder to the direction of the setting sun think to herself that she was running out of time. She quickly charged the Ursa this time trying to get a clean hit before it was too late.

The Ursa quickly swung its claws towards her again but Stella instinctively blocked the attack and just as quickly landed a slash on the beast shoulder. She hopped back to but some distance between the Ursa and herself, seeing the beast was now favouring the other shoulder more. With that, her confidence went up a little bit since she made the first strike but that didn't last long.

Stella could quickly tell something was not right and she quickly turned her head towards the sun that had now fully set over the horizon. This caused the new found confidence to quickly disperse and while she was distracted the Ursa once again charged her but this time she had not enough time to raise Autem, sending her flying into a tree. Causing the tree to snap where she impacted.

"This isn't good." She quickly told herself as she got back up with her full attention back on to the Ursa Major. "I have to end this quickly or I might need to climb my own tree."

What Stella didn't notice was the man in the tree quickly throw a large branch towards the Ursa causing it to turn its head in his direction. "Hey over here you forest reject" he mocked the Ursa in a style that reminded Stella once again of Tanner. But this gave Stella the perfect chance to finish this fight so she charged once again towards the Ursa. However, instead of cutting it with Iuris she quickly gave an uppercut using the top of Autem to land more power on her punch on the Ursa jaw.

This caused the Ursa to rise up on its hind legs then in quick succession she shifted Iuris once again into its shotgun form. With that Stella fired the two shells again causing the Ursa to fall onto its back. With at any time wasted Stella quickly climbed onto the Ursa's stomach plunging both Iuris back in its blade form and the pointed edge of Autem down into its chest.

After a few minutes of the Ursa trying to shack of Stella, it fell still and started to dissolve signalling the end of the fight. With that Stella pulled both Iuris and Autem out of dead Ursas chest hoping down from it and giving a quick breath of relief.

"WAHOO!" The man in the tree quickly shouted "WE DID IT!" he proclaimed from his preach.

"What do you mean 'we' did it, " Stella asked with annoyance in her voice.

"Wel, I distracted it so you could land that amazing move," The man said as he was climbing down from the tree "I am Aaron, Aaron Rod, and am I happy to be out of there I thought I would have to start building a house up there. So thanks …" he trailed off just realizing he never ask Stella's name.

"Stella and that's all you are getting out of me" she quickly snapped at him just then they could hear howls from other animals in the forest "and let's get out of here before you attracted any more unwanted attention," she said as she quickly hurried down the path she came from.

"Right Behind you" Aaron responded in fear as he to raced behind her.

* * *

Thanks for putting up with this slightly longer chapter once I started right the fight between Stella and the Ursa I just couldn't stop.


	7. Hired Wanderer

**Hired Wanderer**

It was a few minutes since both Minjonet and Stella had left the FrozenHole but within that time Tanner had not left his seat. He was still leaning on the back of his chair musing over the drink that lay before him.

"Is everything alright?" A waitress asked Tanner, causing him to snap upright from the surprise of the question. "You have been staring into that glass for a while now."

"Oh yay." Tanner quickly acknowledging the waitress which had surprised him.

"You seemed to be deep in thought. Does it have to do with the two who left?" The waitress asked

"Yes and no, it's kind of hard to explain," Tanner admitted with a lowered voice

"Well I have to get back to work but if you want something stronger I have a key to our cabinet." The waitress said as she hurried off

With that Tanner turned back to his drink quickly downing his drink and rose from his seat. But before he left the table he left some Lien on the table along with a generous tip. Then left in his own direction heading deeper into the city.

It didn't take long for Tanner to get himself lost within the city, though as he would put it he was off doing some urban exploration. He eventually ended up in the slum section of the city causing him to remember some memories when he was growing up.

Tanner stood down the street to the slums remembering how his brother and he used to play in the street with other kids down there. Never appreciating how much his parents gave up for them, they worked long hour jobs almost always getting home late into the night. By the time his parent got home both him and his brother would be asleep in their beds. And when his parents were home during the day they were usually only one of them and they were usually completely played out. But being kids they never knew what their parents had given up.

For a few minutes, Tanner stood there looking down the street trying to remember the games that he would play with his younger brother. He just stood there for a couple minutes reminiscing on his past then a thought jumped into his head.

"I guess I should go and visit him even if it is for a few minutes," Tanner said quietly under his breath hanging his down slightly.

it didn't take Tanner long to find where he was going even with his track record for getting lost it didn't take any extra time. This area was always quiet even during the day when a couple people might pass by. Though he stood there in silence for a few minutes mixing the words in his head trying to figure out what he would say.

"How's it going?" Tanner asked out into the silent air. "It sure has been a while hasn't Grey?" He stated as he was looking down at his headstone. "Sorry for not coming by in these last five years..." His voice trailing off as he tried to hold back the tears in his eyes. "I ... I just ... I just don't know what to say." he chuckled as a tear rolled down his face. "I know me at a lost for words stop the presses. But yeah it's been an interesting couple of years." Tanner said finally regaining some of his composers. "Well, I guess I should start at the beginning." As Tanner started to look up.

"We're not working together anymore, Stella, Minjonet, and I we all went our separate ways afterwards that night. Princess managed to find a village or something to help protect but I guess that was always the thing she was the best at always trying to make sure no one would get hurt. Though you would think she would have finally gotten a sense of humour by now." Tanner laughing at the end of the thought there. "Angel from what I know is in between jobs right now though, word was it she does a lot of scout and clear kind of missions. Nothing really dangerous but nothing too fancy either. And well for me..." His voice trailing once off again.

"I don't know I have kind of thought about just leave this life behind I was never cut from the same cloth like you three. There was never any real pressure for me to become a Huntsmen. None of my folks were Huntsmen or Huntress' not like Princess there and I never had a role model to follow in like you or Angel there." Tanner acknowledge as he still stood over Grey's grave. "Well, I should get going need to get back to Vacuo sooner or later. It's been good to talk to you there Grey." Tanner said as he turned around and started towards exit though only a few feet away he stopped and turned around. "Miss you man really wish you were still here."

Once he arrived at the terminal he started to look for a flight that was heading to Vacou though unfortunately, no one was making a direct flight. Many were stopping in Vale or were far too late to be any good for Tanner. So he decided to book a seat on the next one that was leaving in the next hour even though it was making a stop in Vale. Even though it slowed him down a bit he would still be able to make it back quicker than any other flight. So he quickly grabbed a ticket for the trip then he went to find a seat to relax in and to listen to some tunes. With that, he just zoned out as he started to bob his head to the beat making sure he wasn't causing a big distraction.

After a couple minutes of listening to his music a young lady sat down next to him at first, he paid no attention at first. Though as time went on Tanner could start to tell that something that was wrong with the way she was hunched over. Once Tanner had removed his head phones he could make the quiet sound of her crying.

"Everything alright there?" Tanner asked the lady who was instantly startled by his question turning to face him.

"Sorry there mister I thought you were listening to your music, I hope I wasn't distracting you there." The young lady stated quickly.

"Oh that, don't worry about that but you kind of dodged the question there" Tanner trying to reassure the lady while trying to figure out was troubling her.

"Well me and my Pa we run a small ranch just north of Vale there. However we started to run into some problems with the Grimm there," The lady stated as she started to stare back down to the floor. "They've only recently started to be a problem for us so I came out here to see if I could wrangle up some defences for our farm though that never happened."

"Why didn't you have problems with them before?" Tanner asked being very confused as to that matter.

"Well it's been usually me and Pa on our ranch so I guess we never made a large presence for them," the Lady stated. "But now, some folks have decided to set up shop around us so we had a few fight with some of our new 'guests.'" With that last word being heavily weighted.

"Well, what about a Huntsmen to help protect your small little community?" Tanner quickly asked in confusion. "You must have placed a request for a Huntsmen though. Right?"

"Yeah, but we haven't much to offer so I am guessing most Huntsmen guess pass it by." The lady said as she still held her head down. "Rotten up nose people." This did sting Tanner there for the simple reason that she did hit close to home with that statement. For the simple reason that the statement was true at least for him, he did actually pass by low-income jobs.

"Well maybe I could help you out a bit" Tanner suggested, "I have been known to help out with situations."

This caused the Lady to just burst out laughing at his suggestion "Right Toothpick because you are nice huntsmen with a heart of gold." With her still laughing through her statement. "Now come on there is no such thing as that."

"Now I never said that I was Huntsmen" Tanner trying to avoid some direct hate "All I said was that I could help and also Toothpick?" he asked being on the receiving end of a tasteless nickname for a change.

"Well, you did help you managed to make me laugh Toothpick so thanks for that." The lady commented with some laughter in her voice. "And for Toothpick look at how skinny you are, your bones have to be the size of toothpicks."

After everything he had heard this was defiantly a huge shot to his ego. "Well what about you, just look at you in or coveralls maybe I should start calling you Covers," Tanner asked trying to regain some sense of his ego. "And just to let you know my name is Tanner."

"Sure thing Toothpick," She said in the most condescending voice possible. "Whatever you say."

Before Tanner could get a word in edgewise an announcement was broadcast over the intercom "Attention all passengers boarding the Airbus to Vale. Please collect your Items and board the flight in an orderly manner." Once the announcement had finished Covers got up from her seat.

"Well it's been nice talking to you Toothpick but I have to get going." She said as she hurried off to catch her flight.

Though before anything else could happen another announcement came over the intercom "Attention all passengers boarding the Airbus to Vacou Please collect your Items and board the flight in an orderly manner" With that Tanner Decide he may as well get up as well and join his flight over to Vacou

But as he was boarding the Airbus and navigating the seats he did come across a familiar face while got to his seat. "Well fancy meeting you here Covers." He mockingly stated to his new friend across the aisle.

"Are you kidding me?" Covers quickly responded, "You're heading to Vale as well there Toothpick?"

"Not really, just a layover in Vale" Tanner responded as he sat down in his seat. "But that offer still stands, it's quite the long lay over."

"Whatever you say there Toothpick" she declared as she laid back in her seat as if she was trying to forget he was there. "Ain't you do us all a favour and shut up."

As she said that Tanner couldn't help but crack a small smile at the edge of his lips as he laid back in his seat. Shortly after the Airbus took to the sky Tanner decide to pull his headphones over his ears and closed his eyes as he got some sleep on the trip over.


	8. Shadowed HUnter

Hello everyone, before you go on to read this chapter I would like to steal your attention for a few secounds there, and I would just like to say thanks. Thanks for deciding to reading this story I decided to come up with. And before you guys or gals jump to any conclusions I will still be continue to work on this project of mine.

I just wanted to say thanks because when I started this I figured I might have finished this without having a single reader but the fact that you are reading this just proved me dead wrong. This has been a great start to this hopefully long journey so I figured it was only right to give appreciation where it's do.

So if you don't mind let me say thanks one more time to everyone who is reading my story and to everyone who will read this.

Thank you so much, I hope to see you all at the finish line.

 _K_.

 **Shadowed Hunter**

Grey didn't leave the coffee shop for while it was almost midday when Tanner finally left the Restaurants. He waited a couple minutes to make sure Tanner didn't double back and figure out about this secret. Once Grey was sure that Tanner finally decide to leave he left the coffee shop after leaving some Lien for his stay and coffee.

Grey knew that Minjonet and Tanner had nothing else planned for the rest of the day so they could have lingered around so he figured it was better to leave for a bit. It took a while to reach the cities outer limit though once he had reached the limits it was a short walk to a hill that he usually went to when he had to think.

Once he got to the crest of the hill he sat just beneath a tree looking out onto a frozen forest. There was no one around for miles in this small forest even though this hill was not far from the city though most people never strayed far from the city. Here underneath that tree, he was alone with his thoughts and his demons. He rested under that tree for so long that eventually, his eyelids grew heavy and no sooner did they fall down he drifted into the world of dreams once again.

Once he finally opened his eyes the moon was high in the sky along with a million stars dancing in the sky line.

"Oh come on now," Grey noted "How long was I out for?" once again asking a question to the world. "Well, I guess Tanner and Minjonet have finally moved on so it should be safe for me in the city again." He stated as he stretched his arm out over his head.

He slowly staggered down the hill for the very basic reason that he just woke up. Once he managed to reach the lower section of the hill without stumbling he accidentally tripped and tumbled down the rest of the hill after he finally came to an end of his roll down the hill he ended up with his trench coat resting over his head.

"Well, at least no one saw that" Grey stated as he lay there staring out into the forest surrounding him. He quickly got back on his feet fixing his coat and dusting himself off from his tumble.

After he sorted himself out he proceeded back to the city taking in the lights that were shone from the buildings and light posts. With the lights on you would've had a hard time saying that this was the same city? Many of the neon signs were bright and colourful advertising many attractions from late night restaurants to the less desirable outlets.

Grey was never interested in any of this though it was hard to miss the obvious signs, unfortunately. While he was wandering around the now illuminated city it looked as if he was walking through a rainbow with the way the lights were covering him. Many people were every laughing with other people on the streets, or they were crawled up into a ball huddling in some corner. Though during the night Grey knew to be on his guard just the same for the simple reason there was always someone looking to make some quick cash.

However, it didn't take long for Grey to come across that said group of people in the only dark alleyway around that street. He was just walking down the street when he passed by the alley and almost didn't even notice them if not for their constant yelling.

"We told ye never to return to this neighbourhood!" one of the thugs yelled.

"Well maybe this beating will set him straight!" another thug yelled causing a coarsest of laughter to break out amongst the thugs.

Grey quickly looked down the alleyway only able to see what appeared to be four figures standing over a fifth figure. "This is not my problem," He told himself turning his head away from the alley. "I have to keep a low profile." Grey didn't even manage to get a foot away from that alley before he was stopped dead in his tracks by what he heard.

"Please…. Someone… Help me….." came a weak cry from the victim.

"Shut up you don't get to speak!" the first thug yelled

"Oh come on," Grey signed as he spun around and stood in front of the alleyway "HEY! You idoits!" he yelled down causing the four thugs heads to snap towards him. "Why don't you idiots leave him alone?"

"Well, well looky here boys looks like we have a hero" A third thug spoke up as they started to move towards him. "We all know what we do to hero's right?"

"Yeah, we break 'em!" The second thug yelled in what could almost be amusement. Grey took a couple steps back onto the street trying to get into a more open area. Now what Grey was expecting was a bunch a street level but what he got was nowhere even close to that. All four of these thugs were dressed black suits with a golden hue strips running down their suits. "So this is the punk that interrupted our work." The same thug taunted Grey as they started to encircle him

Grey started to take note of the four as they walked past him trying to pin him into a circle. Two of the thugs held what he could only describe as clubs standing to his right and in front of him. One of them held what looked like a sword inside of a sheath with him taking his spot to his left. The last thug was the one Grey was the most worried about for the simple reason that he couldn't see anything that appeared to be a weapon and he positioned himself just behind Grey. "So is this how you treat all your guests?" Grey jokingly stated

"Only the special ones." The Thug in front of Grey stated with a sly smirk.

"Hey Boss, why don't we break his knees and go back to beating the other guy?" the thug to his left asked

"Don't worry about him he ain't going anywhere." The guy behind Grey stated which he guessed made him the leader of them. Definitely making him the biggest threat out of the rest of them.

"OK guys maybe we can reach some sort of agreement before we do something that you will regret," Grey stated as he could start feeling the anger radiating from them epically from the one with the sword. "Something like I take the guy down there and the four of you just start walking away."

"Well, Well looks this one has some fire in him." The Boss stated once again.

Grey kept both of his weapons holstered under his coat both keeping them hidden from the thugs giving him a very slight edge in combat. But at the same time if they decide to attack he would be at an immediate disadvantage. So Grey kept his head moving back and forth keeping the three in front of him in sight with quick glances back towards the one behind him.

They all stood there for what felt like minutes to Grey but when only a few seconds had passed by. Then all of a sudden Grey felt an over whelming wave of anger spiked up from his left. "Time to fall Idiot!" yelled the thug who had unsheathed his sword jumping towards Grey. With that Grey Spun around to face his attacker while dropping to his knee raising his right arm over his head blocking the attack. "What the?" The thug asked as his sword was stopped by Grey's arm.

"Simple" Grey said with a smile on his lips, "Metal doesn't cut metal so well if you can understand that." Referencing the fact that his right arm was now a prosthetic but trying not to outright state that.

"Well, now you're open!" yelled one of the club thugs as they both rush to attack Grey catching him off guard. Grey decided he needed to reveal his ace up his sleeve, so he quickly reached his left hand under his coat drawing out Fang.

While he was still down his knee Grey quickly fired off a shot to the thug that use to be in front of him only slightly grazing him in his shoulder. Then he keeping his right arm as still as he could as he twisted his waist around and pointed Fang towards the other thug firing another shot that managed to catch him in his hand. After the second shot had hit both of the club thugs stopped in their tracks so Grey spun back around this time pointing Fang directly in the thug's face

"Bang," Grey silently said try to scare the thug which it caused him to jump back away from Grey. Grey slowly began to rise up from his kneeling position testing to make sure that his right arm was still functioning correctly which thank fully was.

Once the sword thug landed back where he was standing before Grey drew Claw out from under his coat. Now with both of his hand guns out in the open Grey Decided to deploy his visor from above his ears having each lens rest just over his eyes.

"Isn't it a little late for sunglasses?" the one club thug taunted

"Maybe I just don't want to stare at your ugly mugs" Grey retorted causing the thug growl in annoyance. Though there was a deeper reason for his eye wear they allowed him to see a ultra-violet laser that both Fang and Claw emit allowing him to aim both of them easier. "Well anyways what about you four? I can see all of you are wearing your own shades." Grey trying to taunt the four of them.

Though now that Grey had revealed his weapons he decided to take the offensive this time as he quickly rushed towards the one thug in front of the alley.

"Hey what are you doing?!" the thug yelled as Grey continue to rush towards him. Once Grey got close to the thug he swung his club intending on taking off his head. But before his club could strike Grey, he jumped over his club and the thug in one move going right over his head.

While he was coming down from his arc he fired off two shots from both of his guns nailing him in the back. He then rolled back on to his feet quickly spinning around aiming both pistols towards the group of thugs. He could see the bullets didn't leave any noticeable marks must likely by his Aura protecting him though he could tell it still stung.

"Where do think you're going?" the sword thug yelled as he charged towards with his sword primed to attack.

As soon as the thug had gotten close enough he swung his sword towards Grey but with quick reflexes, Grey quick jumped back avoiding the attack. Once he landed he fired off four more shots targeting the thug though he dodged two off his shots while he deflected the other two.

Grey couldn't help but note that he was at a definite disadvantage he was never one to fight on the front lines. He was usually positioned behind Stella and Minjonet though that was more because he had almost no skill in close quarter combat. But where he had lacked in fighting face to face, he more than made up in his sharpshooting skill.

But he could use his semblance to level the odds in his favour but the problem becomes the fact about the stranger lying down in the alley. If he couldn't keep full control of it there would be a chance that it might go after him quickly afterwards. So, unfortunately, that throws it out of the window and even if he wasn't there Grey was sure he still wouldn't use it, it just posed too much of a risk.

"You two fire." The one thug declared pointing towards Grey. At that moment the two thugs that were holding clubs quickly shifted them in to what Grey could only guess where rifles.

"Oh come on." Grey pleaded as he quickly ducked behind a dumpster just at the start of the alley as they quickly opened fire. Once they finish their barrage of bullets he quickly ran down the alley pulling the victim behind a wall. When they were there Grey double check to make sure he was still breathing which thankfully he was. "Alright then time to fight back"

Grey quickly attached the stock of Fang onto the front of Claw which caused his weapon barrel to extend out further than before. But this also caused the stock on the back of claw to extend as well giving him something more fitting of a rifle stock. Along with that, the grip of Fang folded up offering a forward grip for his new rifle.

With his new rifle, he rolled out from behind the corner taking a knee again levelling his weapon at the first thug he saw. Within the first couple seconds, he fired a shot from his weapon with the stronger calibre he had in Fang's stock. That shot managed to down the first thug and while the one thug was falling Grey quickly aimed his barrel to the second thug firing another round downing him as well.

"What the heck?" the sword wielding thug exclaimed "You're going to pay for that!" he yelled as he started to walk towards Grey. Though he was quickly stopped by their boss as he placed his hand out in front of the thug. "Boss?"

"Just stand back, I will take him out." He declared as he started to walk towards Grey taking off his coat in the process. Reveling two enormous gauntlets resting on top of his shirt with each one with hundreds of spikes all over them.

"So the boss finally decides to actually lead now?" Grey quickly taunted as he separated his weapon back into his dual pistols.

"You will soon regret asking that." He quickly declared as he assumed a boxers stance allowing a portion of his gauntlets to fold over his fists causing electricity to jump between the spikes. He quickly rushed towards Grey taking a wide left swing with his fist. However Grey jumped back avoiding his strike however the thug's boss snuck in a punch to Grey's stomach. Grey quickly lost all the air in his chest from that punch sending him flying backwards with the added sting of the electricity coursing through his body.

But before Grey could get too far away from the boss, he grabbed Grey by the collar of his shirt hoisting Grey above his head. With that, he started to wail into Grey with his free arm making it almost impossible to catch his breath along with that Grey could feel the electricity circulating through his body with every consecutive punch. Once the brute had finished his onslaught of punches he threw Grey behind him into a wall.

"OK, that was painful, horribly painful." Grey wheezed out as he started to peel off from the wall. Once Grey got to more of a seating position he started his attempt to stand up even with the pain that he felt in his chest.

"Impressive, you can still stand, almost everyone that I fought before now would lie down begging to be put down." The brute of a boss stated with a hint of smugness in his voice.

Through this whole fight, Grey was thankful for one thing throughout this beat down and that was for his poker face. Behind the smile he had on his face was unbelievable pain coursing through out his body even where he not been hit was stinging from the electricity.

But before Grey could get his bearings the boss quickly charged at him with one of his fists drew back ready to strike. Though Grey quickly dodged to his left avoiding his fist but landing hard on to his side. But from his position, he fired off four shots from Claw but even though they did strike their target he could tell they didn't even faze him.

But as Grey started to get up he was quickly pushed back down by the foot of the boss. He then raised his foot off his chest ready to bring it back down to finish him off.

"One last shot," Grey weakly stated, "Got to use it." With that, he raised his right arm as it starts to glow with a dark blue shine radiating around his arm. What happened next terrified both the thug and his boss along with Grey. As a dark blue Beowolf's arm formed around his arm with grey cracks snaking through out the whole arm. With his new arm, he grabbed the boss raising him above him as he slowly started to stand up.

"What are you?" the boss asked in a fit of terror as he could feel the claw tighten around him.

"Me?" Grey stated with a quiet snicker under his breath. "I am a simple man with a curse, now it's your turn." as he threw him through a building knocking several walls down in the process. Firing two shots from Fang collapsing the remaining wall on top of the boss.

Grey quickly looked down at his right arm as he released the construct around his arm, "Looks like I made some improvement in controlling this, I still don't have complete control over it but in all honesty I might never have full control over it." though he was quickly snapped out of his train of thought by the last thug yelling out of terror.

"You're a monster! Help! Help!" the thug yelled as he ran away.

"Oh man, I forgot about you," Grey stated as he raised Fang to fire at the thug only to hear two clicks erupt from Fang signalling that it was out of bullets. "Oh come on." He said with distaste hanging in his voice before he lifted Claw up only to hear the same result,

"Great." Grey said as he start to walk out of the alley only to see that the thug had managed to get out of sight. But before Grey could start an actual search to see if he could find him he could hear sirens heading towards him. "I better leave before they get here," Grey said to himself as he started to wander away. "Explaining what happened wouldn't be that hard, but explaining why I am not dead is not a conversation I want to have right now."


	9. Hijacking in the Sky

**Hijacking in the Sky**

This turned out to be a good use of Minjonet's time, she had managed to find a ship that was going to Vale. Along with that good fortune, the sky was clear of clouds allowing the sun to cast a warm glow onto the deck allowing her to bath in it.

So she was laying on a deck chair reading through a book that she had downloaded to her scroll. Though she stopped reading to stare up into the sky were Talon was enjoying the cool ocean breeze coasting on the open wind. Just seeing how he was just so carefree up there, gave her a sense of peace throughout her whole body.

Though as she lay there staring up into the sky her mind started to drift back into the past when she was with her team. Stella would always be practising whether it was her sword and shield combat or it was her shooting skill. She had always tried to be the best at everything and having a marksman light Grey made it hard on her.

Tanner would always find some sun-drenched corner where he could lay down and listen to his music. Just letting his mind drift away on his music tapping his foot in the air as he draped his foot over his other leg.

For their last member Grey, he would find the point with the best view of everything around him allowing to see everything. It always seemed that he wanted to be alone and away from the rest them though Minjonet could never figure out why.

But before Minjonet could go further down the rabbit hole this time Talon woke her up again hanging over her head. Talon had his head tilted slightly as he was staring directly towards her with his big eyes.

"How long have you been there?" She asked Talon though she knew he wasn't going to answer. But before he could cry out for whatever answer that would be he quickly flew back up into the sea breeze.

With that, she just laughed quietly as she grabbed her things and proceed back to her room on the ship. Walking past many other travellers either going to Vale themselves or waiting to be dropped off on one of the few islands between Atlas and Vale.

"Attention everyone we are about to make landfall in a few short minutes," the captain declared over the loudspeaker on the upper deck of the ship. "So if this is your final destination please gather your belongings and prepare for departure." Minjonet at this moment peered over the railing of the ship allowing her to see a land mass in the distance. "If you are on your way to the Kingdom of Vale please do not debark from the ship for we will be leaving shortly afterwards."

Once the captain finished his announcement Minjonet was finally able to reach her room. After entering the room she quickly opened up the window let in the ocean breeze into the room to help cool it off. She quickly lay down her scroll on the small table that was provided in the room as she sat down looking out into the sea.

Though quickly enough Talon came soaring down perching himself on the windowsill as he started to preen his wing. Minjonet quickly chuckled at his behaviour just before she turned her head towards Skycrest with her quivers resting on top of her bed. She grabbed her sheath with the quivers attached by straps that allowed her to keep Skycrest over her shoulder along with one of the quivers along with the other quiver on her left hip. She slightly drew out Skycrest about halfway exposing some of the blades though Talon hopped over and rested on Minjonet's left shoulder as if he was after some attention.

"Sorry there, Talon it just seems I keep losing myself in my train of thought." Minjonet apologized to her 'Brother' as she scratched under his beak.

Minjonet soon sheathed Skycrest leaving it on the table and walk back out of her room with Talon still on her shoulder. As she got out she could see that they had finally arrived at the island that they were stopping at before they would arrive at Vale. So Minjonet decided to lay against the railing and watch everyone who were leaving the ship and those who were boarding as well.

There was nothing interesting about those that were leaving form the ship though there were a group of people who were boarding the ship that did catch her eye. There was a group of cloaked people boarding the ship though Minjonet had to admit they weren't the weirdest thing she had ever seen though so she didn't give them a second thought as she turned her head back to the port.

They only remained dock for a few minutes before they quickly left for their final destination in the Kingdom of Vale. Minjonet was still leaning against the railing watching the waves rolled past her with Talon still on her shoulder. However, he quickly took off flying above the ship riding along the currents in the air.

"Looks like he is really enjoying himself" Minjonet commented on the current events as she stared up at him. Though she quickly lowered her head back down thinking of what she would do once she got back to Vale. "I could likely find some work helping to clear out some Grimm or maybe take a page out of Stella's book and help protect a village." She pondered as the waves kept passing her.

Though shortly after she finished pondering what she would do once she arrived Minjonet wandered onto the bow of the ship. There she saw many people enjoying themselves either relaxing in lounge chairs or playing games with their children. But her eyes quickly drifted to the two cloaked figures standing at the end of the deck.

They were definitely from that group that had boarded earlier but what caught her attention was that they kept their faces concealed under their hoods. Minjonet quickly turned around only to find that a third cloaked figure had appeared behind her. Along with a fourth, that was standing at the opposite side of the deck.

"What is going here?" Minjonet quickly asked as she looked around.

Though she quickly got her answer as the four cloaked individuals threw away their cloaks. Reveling their white uniforms along with a different assortment of weapons, along with their white Grimm masks.

"Alright, all of you get in the centre of the deck!" Yelled one of the White Fang thugs "Don't worry about anyone else, they will be joining you very shortly."

Minjonet could hear a lot of yelling from all over the ship most likely from other White Fang thugs starting their plan. Minjonet instinctively started to reach for Skycrest only to quickly realise that she didn't have Skycrest with her.

"Oh no I left Skycrest in my cabin." She quietly cursed under her breath

"Come on, move it." The White Fang thug that was behind her said as he pushed her into the centre of the deck with everyone else that was there.

"Now get down on your knees and don't move." One of the thugs yelled at the group of people that the White Fang had gathered from around the ship. "Now listen up our boss would like to have a word with your filth." The thug yelled once again this time pointing up to the second deck where a new thug had appeared.

"Alright, Listen up Humans," The Thug up on the top deck declared with his sword resting on his shoulder. "You humans are going to be our hostages for the foreseeable future. Not the first thing I would like to do to you but hey at least this way you will hold some value." The thug chuckling on those last words. "Now all I want from you simple minded fouls is to sit there till we get our Dust and Lien."

With that, he turned around and left Minjonet's sight but soon after she could hear his voice once again. "Oh yay and as a courtesy to you filthy creatures, if you try anything my men have the authority to kill you without hesitation." she could hear him laughing as he left.

Once everything began to quiet down Minjonet started to look around at the situation she managed to get herself into. There were the four White Fang members that were originally on the front deck but they seemed to have been joined by another six members. She could see two of them up on the top deck but she had a feeling telling her there were most likely more up there plus their leader.

They were still bringing hostages from all over the ship to where they were so they still had to be searching the ship so sneaking away was completely out the window. Along with that, a straight-up brawl was completely out of the question they would just start killing everyone.

"Hey, let go of me you brute." An elderly man yelled at the thug which caused Minjonet to look towards them as he was being escorted.

"Listen, the Boss wants you alive to help prove that everyone is alive on this dinghy, but don't think that I won't chop your head off if you don't shut up." The thug snapped back to the old man as he threw him right next to Minjonet.

Minjonet quickly helped the man to sit up only to hear a child crying somewhere in the group. "Hey, you shut that kid up, or he's going to need to learn how to swim very quickly!" One of the thugs that were guarding them yelled at a mother as she tried to shield the child and stop him from crying.

Minjonet could tell this wasn't going to end well but without Skycrest there was little she could do at this point. With this, she started to have flashbacks to that night trying to remove the falling beams from that doorway. But no sooner did they start she could hear a familiar cry from above her, so she carefully looked up trying not to reveal where she was looking.

There in the sky, Talon was circling around them high enough in the sky not to draw any attention to him, but there in his talons was Skycrest in its sheath and the two quivers.

"Yes, great job there Talon," Minjonet said silently under her breath. With that knowledge, she quickly looked around making sure it was safe for him but before she could do anything a hand grabbed her shoulder pulling her down.

"I wouldn't recommend doing what I think you're about to do there, Huntress," the man next to her said as he inched himself closure to her to better to keep their voices down.

"How do you know I am Huntress?" Minjonet asked quietly.

"You're the only other person that looked up to that bird when he cried out along with the fact that he is carrying a weapon that means only two things, you're either some sort of thug, or you are a huntress, and given the fact that you aren't trying to make a deal with these thugs means you're more likely the latter." The man explained

"OK, but why did you look up as well?" Minjonet asked with a look of confusion on her face.

"Lass," The man with a hint of annoyance in his voice even while staying quiet. "I have been sailing the seas for most of my life I know all of the birds out here along with their own songs, and your bird is not one of them."

"Wait you're the captain of this ship?" Minjonet asked finding it hard to believe.

"Aye lass," the man said

"So that explains why you were so late to join us," Minjonet said understanding things a little better.

"They had me radio the coast to let them what was going out here and to tell them their demands." The captain explained "but back to you lass, I can't let your pet drop your weapon down the guards will most likely see it and that would put everyone here in harm's way. Just let them do their thing they have guaranteed everyone safety if their demands are met. "

"You can trust these animals, their word isn't even worth the air they use to speak," Minjonet said with a hint of disgust in her voice, but then a small smirk crept across Minjonet's face. "Anyways, who said anything about having him drop it?" She asked.

This caught the captain's attention. "What do you mean by that?" this time leave the captain unsure.

"I'll go up there and fetch it," Minjonet said still with that small smirk.

"What?" the captain asked "I have heard of Huntsmen jumping great heights but that would surely be noticed by the guards there, lass. And you would surely be seen once you land."

"Don't worry about I have that taken care of," Minjonet said trying to reassure the captain. "I would just need some form of desecration for those guards up on the other deck"

She could see that he was defiantly thinking it over in his head going over all the possibilities. It was a few moments before she got her answer.

"Fine lass we'll do it your way. Just wait they should be taking me back up soon to radio the coast again, I will give you your window then just watch those two guards up there." He said as he was pointing to the guards on the upper deck

" you. you will not regret it" Minjonet said in a slightly chipper voice

"Aye lass I better not" the captain declared as they waited there for their chance.


	10. Village in Embers

**Village in Embers**

It didn't take Stella and Arron long to leave the forest behind though her chest becoming heavy do to her lack of breath. However, Stella could tell that Aaron had also lost his breath from the run.

"Not use to running for your life, Aaron?" Stella mockingly commented.

"No … not … really," Aaron slowly wheezed out.

"Well, we have to get back to the village one way or another," Stella stated as she started to look around.

"How can ….. you …. even tell ….. where we are?" Aaron asked, "Oh I have to sit down."

"Well I can't say where we are but I can tell you where the village is," Stella said as she pointed into the distance were a plume of smoke was rising into the air. "Come on we have to get over there soon."

"Can't we just sit here for the bit?" Aaron asked seemingly catching his breath finally.

"What? Can't keep up?" Stella mocked Aaron

"Well, maybe you huntresses can keep going but not us regular folk," Aaron stated finally sounding like he caught his breath.

"Wait, you're not a Huntsmen?" Stella asked in shock.

"I was up in a Tree?! You thought I was a Huntsmen?" With that Aaron just started to laugh.

"I was told that you led the Ursa way," Stella stated as she tried to defend herself.

"I was cashed by that Ursa" Aaron quickly retorted.

With that new information, Stella couldn't help but raise her hand to her face as she just shacked it back and forth. "Why do I always end up in these situations," Stella asked herself, "Well I need to get back to the village, so it's still there in a week."

With that Stella started to walk back to the village with both Autem and Iuris in hand. "Ah wait up," Aaron called out to Stella as he got up and proceeded to follow her.

It didn't take long for Stella to reach the village but once she arrived she saw the damage that had been left over. Many houses had either crumpled down to ruble or had walls ripped clean out of them leaving their roof the only standing item left. The street lights that had lined the pathways where now snapped like twigs with many of them acting as candles now.

In the village square where market stalls use to line the edges of it, Tents had been erected to offer shelter from the night. There were people everywhere some trying to put their lives back together. While others seemed to lay awake to the waking nightmare they had become part off.

"This isn't good." Stella cursed under her breath as the situation started to sink in for her "The Grimm are surely going to return at this rate."

"What ….. do you … mean?" Aaron wheezily asked as he managed to catch up to Stella.

With this Stella couldn't help but turn around to Aaron. "What do I mean?!" She yelled back to him, "Do you not understand how the Grimm hunt?" Stella yelled once again towards Aaron.

"No, I do … know" Aaron wheezed slowly as he started to catch his breath again. "But surely … they can't be too close ….. or else they would've turned up by now?"

Stella couldn't help but understand his point even if he was infuriating if they were close they would've been here by now. With that, she started to head towards the tents in the square hoping there was something she could do. But about half way there she was stopped by the sight of a house's frame standing up with many pictures or items lining the base of it.

"Come to add to the memorial?" A villager asked as he started to approach her.

"These people…" Stella tried to ask but only to have her word slowly abended her.

"Yeah," The villager slow said as he turned his head to the memorial "Everything here is a trinket or picture of a loved one who died today." At this point, he started to kneel down before one of the pictures.

"Is there anything I can do?" Stella asked, "I am a Huntress," This seemed to catch the villager's attention "I can help in any way I can."

"Yay….. you … could help in the rescue efforts," The villager quick suggested, "there's a lot of people looking through the rubble trying to find some survivors, However with in the past hour we seemed to pull out more victims." This caused him to look back at the picture in the memorial.

Before Stella could ask she decide to leave to see if she could help in their efforts so she ran to one of the more destroyed parts of the village. As she ran through there, her mind started to wander back to that night how useless she felt there, but that only encouraged her to not have a repeat of that night.

"HEY!" a distant voice cried out catching Stella's attention as she turns to the direction of the voice to see a having man next to a crumpling house. With that, she quickly ran over to him, "there is someone in there." The man quickly told her.

"Hello?" Stella yelled towards the crumbling house as she started to look for a way to make an entrance into the house without having the rest of it fall down.

"Is there someone there?" A young voice cried out form the rubble.

"Yes, we are here to get you out of here," Stella quickly answered. "Help me lift this up beam," She asked the villager next to her. With the two of them, they managed to lift the beam up high enough for Stella to use Autem to brace the beam up allowing a small passage into the house. "You stay here I'll go in." She told the man with only a slight nod to signal that he understood.

With that, she started to crawl through the hole only to find that the house was somehow clear of rubble for now. Stella quickly looked around the room she had arrived in unfortunately she could not see the child that had called out to them. "Where are you?" Stella called out hoping she would receive an answer.

"Over here" the voice called out from behind one of the doors at the end of the room. Stella hurried over to the door only find that it was blocked by a portion of the roof that had fallen down. Stella attempted to move the obstruction but when she tried she could hear the roof shift as she moved it. Along with this Stella could hear the kid crying out form the shifting roof as she waited for the roof to settle once again.

Once she was sure the roof had stopped moving she started to look around to see if she could find something to help support the roof. Though as she looked around she couldn't find anything suitable to help her out. This left a tight knot in her stomach as she decided the best course of action for her.

"Ok I need you to get away from the door I will cut a hole for you" Stella yelled through the door.

There was a long pause between the two of them before Stella heard anything from the other side of the door. "Okay I'm Ready," the young child said from the behind the door.

"Ok," Stella said as she readied Iuris to cut through the door. "Just stay where you are." She said as she slowly began to cut a hole through the door making sure not to disturb the building further. It was slow and tedious work but it was the only way to get her out of there.

After a while, Stella was finely able to cut a small hole through the door to allow herself to enter the room. With that she stowed Iuris back to her side and slowly entered the room, there wasn't much damage in this room thankfully but it still wasn't in the best of shape. Though in the far corner of the room Stella could see the silhouette of a scared child in a corner.

"Don't worry, I am here now," Stella said as she tried to calm down the frightened child. "Come on let's get out of here." With that Stella reached her hand out towards the scared child trying to get her to follow her out of there. "Don't worry I am here to help."

Reluctantly the young child reached her hand out towards Stella as if she was unsure to trust the stranger that had come to save her. After a while, the young child grasped Stella's hand as Stella Pulled her even closer as they left the ruined house.

There the villager who had helped to enter the house watched as the two emerged from the entrance to the falling house. Once Stella left the rubble she quickly grabbed Autem freeing it from the supporting the house. Though once she did the entire front of the house fell down into a pile of rubble.

"Here." Stella said as she held Autem one hand and the child in the other, "Can you take her back to the others and make sure she is looked after?" She asked towards the lone villager.

"Sure thing." The villager said as he took the child and started his journey back to the make shift camp of the survivors.

After she gave the stranger the child, Stella walked off into the ruined streets to try and see if there was any one else left behind. As she walked down the streets yelling out to the rubble to see if she could hear others cry for help. Though as she did Stella saw others helping other people, some walked along the injured to help them to the camp. Others were carrying some children back to the camp while the rest carried the severely injured in makeshift stretchers.

Stella was out there for some time though the longer she was out there the fewer people she saw amongst the destruction. After some time Stella headed back to the camp hoping to find another way she could help the survivors.

As she arrived at the camp she got a better look around at the camp that had formed from the remains of the village. Everyone was lending their assistance to anyone they could help, somewhere sharing blankets or clothing amongst people while others helped to set up more tents and cots for people to rest on. Though as she looked around she caught a glimpse of the Aaron that she helped in the frozen forest.

"There we go, that should heal a lot fast now but please avoid putting too much weight on to your leg there," Aaron said as he tied a spilt to a man's leg. Though Aaron quickly caught Stella's gaze "Well, Well, look who finally showed up"

"Looks like you are actually making yourself useful here," Stella stated as she slowly walked over to the tent where he was.

"Well I might not be a Huntsman like you thought I was but I do know a thing or two about medicine." Aaron said in a very teasing tone of voice, "And these people really need that help right now" he said as he looked around at the many people who were displaced.

Though as they were talking the villager that had greeted them when they first entered the village was walking over to them. "I thought I better thank you Aaron, for all your help but I guess I should also thank you as well Ms.….."

"Stella, you can just call me Stella." She told the villager.

"Well then, thank you, Stella, for your work," the villager said as he thanked both of them.

"Thanks, but there must be more I can do to help out around here?" Stella Asked towards the villager.

"No, unfortunately, there is not much more that you can do," The villager said in a very heart broken tune. "Everyone who had gone out looking for survivors has returned with the same story."

"Yeah, I have been hearing the same thing from everyone I have been helping too," Aaron said with that same voice that the villager had used.

"How about this," The villager suggested, "Why don't you get some rest in one of the free cots and you can help us in the morning?" he asked

"I couldn't, What if you need my help?" Stella forcefully inquired. But she had to admit getting some sleep seemed like a good Idea.

"Then we simply wake you up," Aaron quickly chimed in, "anyways you do look like you could use the sleep after all you saved me and helped with rescuing other people you earned it"

"Fine," Stella grudgingly acknowledge "But wake me at the first sign of a problem."

"Don't worry, we will." The villager told her.

So with that Stella wandered through the camp trying to find a place she could lie down and sleep. Luckily there was a free cot lying free under one of the tents closest to the gate, She figured if there was a problem they would have to look far for her. Stella the lay both Iuris and Autem under her cot as she lay down in the cot and drifted off.


	11. Grimm Hills

**Grimm Hills**

It was a long walk from Vale to this remote settlement on the northern shore of Sanus, but for Tanner, it was well worth the journey to here. The air was pure with a couple buildings sprinkled around the area with more frames ready to be finished.

"Did you honestly follow me all the way to here?" Covers asked Tanner even though she was sure of the answer she would get.

"No" Tanner jokingly mocked her "I have my own reason for heading out to here."

"Whatever you say toothpick," Covers stated as she started to walk away from him.

But right at that moment Tanner just stood there looking around trying to figure where he should begin looking around. Though as he looked around his gaze seemed to settle on a small house off to the side of the village. This house seemed to be older than the rest of the other buildings, the base of the building was built with stone but it transited to a normal wooden building. There was either a moss or a vine growing on one of the walls. But at the same time, it looked like it was built alongside the rest of the other buildings.

And as he looked on there was Covers walking right towards this building as if it was a part of her normal routine. This intrigued Tanner so against his better judgment he decided to follow her to this building.

As Covers neared the house a larger man who was tending a garden in front of the house turned towards her, "Kore!" the man bellowed out as he hugged her and spun her around. Afterwards, he let her down and gave her a kiss right on her forehead, "How are is my little goddess?"

"I am doing fine father." the newly named Kore silently giggled "How are the crops doing?"

"Ah, they are doing better now that you are back here." The man said in his booming voice. "And who is this man that has followed you here." At this moment Kore quickly spun her head around to see Tanner standing there.

"That's a nice name you have," Tanner jokingly mocked her, "Kore, it's got a nice ring to it."

"Toothpick…" Kore said in a lower voice as she headed towards him and once she was close to him she through a ferocious left hook that hit Tanner square in the jaw.

"Ouch," Tanner said as he rubbed the spot where he was struck "I'm pretty positive I have had softer hits from a King Taijitu."

"What do you think you're doing here?" She asked in a lowered voice.

"I thought I could help you out with your Grimm issue," Tanner stated still rubbing the spot where he was hit. "But after that welcome, I am unsure now."

"You wish to help us?" Kore's father asked in his booming before he burst out laughing "HAHAHA, what could such a skinny child do to help us?"

"Well, it so happens that this skinny child is also a Huntsmen." Tanner quickly declared but to his disappointment this was only met by even louder laughter from Kore's father.

"uhh, why is he laughing?" Tanner quickly asked Kore with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Why do think." Kore quickly retorted with her voice slightly raised. "It's because that is a nothing more than Cow dung!"

After a few seconds of Kore's father loud laughter, he stopped as he wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes "I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time… Ah, thank you, Child." He said as he proceeded to sit down on the front step to their house. "But really there is no way you are a huntsman their child you just don't look the part."

"Oh, really?" Tanner asked "Then what does a Huntsman look like to you two then," He asked both Kore and her father.

With that, he could feel Kore's father looking over him but after a few minutes, he just slumped back. "Fine." He admitted, "I will admit, I don't know what a Huntsman looks like but you don't have that presence of someone who thinks their better than the rest of us."

But before Tanner could get his word in he was cut off by Kore "OK you two stop it," she quickly exclaimed. "Listen, Toothpick, I don't know how you haven't noticed yet but Huntsman aren't exactly in our good books." She calmly explained, "So just do us a favour and leave us alone, alright."

Tanner slowly started to understand what he got himself into but once again before he could say anything he was cut off. But this time not by anyone around him but by someone screaming from the other buildings. "Alright then." Tanner said as he turned around to head to the other buildings "If you won't take me for my word I guess I will have to show you then." He declared as he ran off towards the village.

As Tanner was running off towards the village Kore just looked back towards her father but this wasn't a look of concern more like a look of asking for permission. Within a couple seconds her father acknowledged by giving her a quick nod along with two words "Grap it."

Once Tanner had arrived at the outcrop buildings he started to look around for either the person who had attracted him there or what had caused them to scream. Though the answer to that question was quickly answered. There rampaging in-between the buildings was a hoard of Grimm, more precisely a hoard of Creep destroying everything around them.

"Creep, Huh?" Tanner said as he stood at the end of the path, "And here I thought I was going to have a challenge." He said as he pulled out his scroll and started to swipe through it as he walked towards them.

As Tanner was looking through his scroll one of the Creeps caught sight of him and quickly charged towards him letting out a bastille roar. This caused Tanner to quickly look up towards the charging beast. As the beast neared him, it lunged towards Tanner with its maw wide open. Once it had gotten close to him, Tanner leapt over the Creep causing it to land hard behind him.

Once Tanner landed on his feet he turned to get a look of the stunned Creep. "Come on," Tanner said as he let out a sigh before he looked back down at his scroll. "Oh that's a perfect song, you know what for a dump mindless monster you actually helped me choose a good fight sing for this occasion." With that Tanner tapped the selected song causing it to play out of the headphones he had wrapped around his head along with two speakers he had on his belt.

Though as Tanner did that, the Creep that had lunged at him earlier started to get back up and still in a dazed once again lunged towards Tanner. But this time Tanner flipped over the Creep with his foot leading his arc. Once he was over the creature as if he was in sync with the music, he brought his foot down right over it only to have it sail over the creature. However, a pressure wave formed from his foot shooting towards the Creep at intense speeds impacting it instantly causing it to evaporate into the air. Once he landed he turned his sight back towards where the rest of the Creeps were, only to see the rest of them glaring at him.

"Guess the fun is only getting started, eh?" Tanner declared as he got into something more akin to a brawler stance ass the music started to die down. At that moment the rest of the Creeps charged towards him in what could be described as a wave of death.

As the Creeps were barreling down towards him just when the song peaked back up he threw out a wide punch across the area. "Let's do this!" he yelled out as his punch flew through the air as another pressure wave erupted from his arm. This pressure wave flew a good few feet before it struck the Creep in the front lines pushing them backwards. However, the Creeps that were behind the front line merely climbed over their fellow beasts still charging towards Tanner.

As the leader of the pack got closer to Tanner it lunged towards him. However, Tanner was ready for it so he threw out a huge frontal kick out towards them once they got close enough. This kick landed square to the face of the Creep which Tanner then pushed it down to the ground. Afterwards, Tanner jumped into the air using both the Creep he had under his foot for leverage and another pressure wave he generated with his foot to help send him skyward. Once he reached the apex of his leap Tanner looked back down at the hoard of Creeps below him.

"Well, that's definitely more then what I thought there were," Tanner said as he looked down at the hoard that awaited him to come back down. "Well, I guess I really have to stop playing around."

After stating this Tanner Grabbed both of his weapons that made up Basscutter with the blades still wrapped up in their cloth. However shortly after he drew out his weapons they started to expand form a guard over the top of Tanner's forearm. Allowing the blades of both weapons to become more in line with the rest of his arm.

But before he could unwrap the blades, one of the Creep from down below climbed up onto the roof of one of the buildings close by. Then Creep leapt straight up to Tanner with its maw wide open. As soon as the Creep got close to him, Tanner did a quick corkscrew backhanding the Creep first with his left hand. Closing its jaws of the Creep and deflecting the attack past him.

Then while he had his right hand in the air he flicked his wrist unlatching a clasp that caused the cloth strand to unfurl from around the blade. But instead of falling down to the ground, the cloth strand was still attached to it causing it to ripple through the air. But, with the blade, "unsheathed" Tanner kept rolling through his corkscrew plunging the blade into the Creeps necks causing it to evaporate instantly.

Before he fell back down to remaining Grimm that awaited him, he redirected himself by using some pressure waves to land on one of the roofs so he could stand above the hoard. Though as he fell he flicked his left hand unravelling the cloth "sheath" of the other blade.

Once Tanner landed on the roof of the house two of the Creeps jumped on top to join him. After Tanner took a quick glance to his sides then with a smile on his face he quickly crossed arms causing the cloth strands to propel out and wrapped around the Creeps necks. Once the strands were tight enough around their necks Tanner pulled them towards him. And with one clean motion, he stabbed one through the chest then stabbed the other through the jaw by using an uppercut motion.

Once the Creeps started to evaporate Tanner made a mad dash across the rooftops. As he did he shifted his weapons causing the blades to fold back reviling an SMG barrel extending outwards that was hidden inside of the blades. Then with a pull of the triggers, Tanner unleashed a barrage of bullets into the hoard of Creep causing a good majority of them to evaporate.

Then after Tanner had managed to thin out the heard he rushed into the remaining group. Tanner then proceeded to attack the remaining stragglers by punching and slicing through the remaining hoard. And if they were out of range of his blades Tanner would either throw out his cloth strands to pull them closer or he would simply fire off a couple rounds towards them.

After he dispatched the last of the Grimm Tanner took a look around making sure there were no more of them around him. Then when he was satisfied that everything was taking care he stopped the playback of his music and turned around then proceeded to leave the village. But before he could take two steps a Creep burst from the ground lunging towards Tanner causing him to turn around to face it.

But before he could react to defend himself he heard a shot go off and within the same breath, the Creep that attacked was blasted back. Tanner quickly turned towards the ally he had heard the shot come from. To see Kore standing in front of him holding a shotgun pointed right towards him.

"Could you… point that somewhere else?" Tanner asked.

"You're welcome" Kore quickly retorted.

"How long were you here?" Tanner inquired as he started to look around to try and figure out where she was before.

"Long enough," Kore admitted

"Did I managed to change opinion?" Tanner asked once again though this time with a smirk on his face.

"A little I will admit that," Kore quickly answered "I guess you are a huntsman but don't think I have changed my opinion on Huntsman. Most of you huntsman are shallow and greedy people but I guess there are some who don't fit the model after all." After she said that she started to walk off but before she got too far she turned around a stared back towards Tanner. "Why don't come back up to the house I think we could give you a meal."

With that Kore started to walk away again then after a few seconds, Tanner started to follow behind her as he started to wrap up Basscutter.


	12. Wolves' Warehouse

**Wolves' Warehouse**

Grey once again woke up from a deep slumber and as his eyes started to adjust to the low light level he could make out that he was back in his studio apartment. However judging from how uncomfortable he was he was not in his bed.

"Was last night just a dream?" Grey asked himself, though as he started to sit up he felt a sharp pain shot through his chest. "Nope, nope, definitely not a dream."

As he sat back on his coach he could still feel the bruises from the last night. Grey lifted up his shirt revealing many bright red welts scattered around his chest. But as he lowered his shirt back down over his chest he felt another sharp pain shot through his chest. Even as he started to get off his coach he felt another jolt of pain ripple through him. Once Grey had gotten to his feet he hobbled to counter where he leaned against it as he gripped his chest trying to nullify the pain. Though as he rested against the counter he looked over to a clock that rested on the wall across from him.

"Uh…." Grey grunted out as he lowered his head, "I am going to be late again." Grey waited a few moments before he pulled himself off of the counter. Then with something akin to a reluctant sigh he proceeded to his door to leave his place.

It wasn't a long walk for Grey but it gave him time to think about what happened the previous night. More importantly, how his skills have dulled over those last 5 years. Back before that fateful night, he could have taken the four of them without having one escape, more importantly, he would've never needed to have used his semblance. Even though he would've been alone Grey knew he could have dealt with them in his prime.

As Grey got closer to his destination his mind began to clear and refocus on the job ahead. As Grey rounded the corner he saw the little shop that had been his place of employment for the past five years. Titan Motorsport, a small custom shop that had hired Grey on as simple go-getter, but through the years he managed to become a skilled apprentice for them who would help on custom builds.

Grey opened the front door ringing a small bell that hung over the doorway. The small room that he entered was dimly lit with a couple chairs in the corner close to the doorway. Then across from the chairs was a desk with a man holding up a newspaper concealing his face.

"You're late." The man behind counter stated as Grey closed the door behind him.

"And you are still reading a newspaper." Grey responded, "But yeah, sorry about that sir, I had a late night."

Once Grey finished his apology his boss folded up his paper and laid on the desk revealing an elderly gentleman who had lost most of his hair from years in the trade. He may have had a clean dress shirt on but from the grime on his hands you could tell he still worked under the hood from time to time.

"I don't really care about why you are late," Grey's boss explained, "Late is late. You know my opinion on that. But you are here now so I guess you can get to work, here's a work order for some electrical rewiring for some young kid who has too much money."

Grey walked over to the desk picking up the work order the proceeded to look over it. "Ah, you saved this for me?" Grey sarcastically asked.

"Well, you are one of my better techs for electrical." Grey's boss stated. "Now get going, you got two hours." With those words, Grey quickly ducked into shop beginning his work.

Grey's day proceeded very much like that for the rest of the day working on odd jobs from installing bar lights to helping to fine-tune the dust mixtures in an engine. Sure at times, Grey had to admit that some of the jobs were tedious but at least it kept him from doing any dishonest work. As the sun started to set Grey went back up front handing in the last work order for his day.

"Well look at you even being late you still finished every job I had for you." Grey's boss stated as he took the work order from Grey's hands.

"Well if there isn't any more work mind if I head out?" Grey asked.

Grey's boss looked over the work order then looked at Grey for a few moments. "What are you still doing? Get going." He said as he gave Grey a wave off.

Then with a sly smile Grey went back into the shop and locked his tools but before he left, Grey lifted his shirt to check on his injuries. The welts on his body had shifted from the red that they were to a deep blue. Though they didn't sting anymore whenever anything came in contact with them.

Once Grey was sure everything of his was locked up he started his walk back home. Though as he left his work the sun had already begun to set in the distance. Though as he rounded a corner he saw something that caused him to quickly fall back behind that last corner. There standing halfway down an alleyway was the one thug that had managed to run away last night.

Though there was something different about him this time around, His suit had become ruffled along with the dress shirt he had on underneath was slightly untucked now. There were stains of dirt and water scattered all over him. Grey could even feel a wave of terror emanating from him. Within an instant, Grey heard a can being kicked from down at the other end of the alleyway. This caused the thug to tense up and jump backwards towards Grey. Once he landed he quickly unsheathed his sword and held it in front of him to no avail. After what seemed like a minute had passed he sheathed his sword before he turned his head around to look behind him. However Grey had ducked behind the corner once again to avoid being seen.

After a few seconds, Grey peeked around the corner to see what the thug was up too. Thankfully the Thug had turned around a proceeded to the far end of the alleyway stowing away his sword under his coat. Grey followed after the thug. although to be safe he made sure to stay out of sight by dashing behind objects. Though once the Thug turned out of the alley Grey rushed to the end hoping to keep him in sight. However, when Grey rounded the corner he didn't see the thug but he did see a crowd of people enjoying themselves in the streets.

Grey at this moment realized that the Thug had disappeared into the crowd making almost impossible to follow him. However Grey was the exception to this scenario because of one slight detail he had over most people. Grey could still feel the Thug's terror radiating from him and could use it in a similar way to how predator could track its prey by smell.

So Grey followed the thug through the crowed keepings distance so not to scare him into a panic. But as Grey was walking through the crowd he had to duck in and out of different groups to try to stay hidden from the Thug's sight. Though this section quickly ended as the Thug ducked down another alleyway. Grey watch him from the entrance to the alley as the Thug quickly turn down another alley.

This how it went on for some time, the Thug dashing down alleyways and streets, and Grey following him down each twist in the road. But after some time their journey came to an end as they arrived in an industrial area. Grey had yet to leave the last alley before he saw the Thug enter what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. Though Grey figured that it was far from abandoned anymore.

"Looks like I am not completely rusty after all," Grey admitted to himself as he slowly walked over to the warehouse. "I can still track with the best of them and not be seen. Though now I guess I got another problem here. I could leave and phone in an anonymous tip about a certain building," Grey stated as he was thinking it quietly. "Only problem with that is I have no idea if I would be taken seriously or if I was if taken seriously if they would find anything at all."

At this moment Grey started to look around hoping to find a window or anything that would allow him to have a quick peek in. Unfortunately, there was no other entrance in beside the door the thug had wandered through Though his sight did fall on a couple crates stacked off to the side that would allow him to get onto the roof.

"Or the other option I stay here and get a better Idea what the heck is going on here," Grey Stated as he stared at the crates. "The problem with that is obvious I don't want to get any more involved than I already am." Even after he admitted that to himself his sight was still focused on the box on the side of the warehouse. With a heavy sigh, he started to walk over to the crates and started to climb up.

"I have a bad feeling I am going to regret this," Grey said as he got on to the roof where he could skylights scattered all over the roof.

So Grey walked over to the first skylight that was close to him and peered inside but to his disappointment, all Grey could see was a bunch crate scattered around. But his curiosity peeked a little bit more when he saw the Thug that he was following being escorted by two larger thugs to the back of the warehouse and not in a kind manner. Though they quickly left his sight and Grey looked over the rooftop for the next possible window to follow them. However there off to his immediate left, there was one of the skylights that had been cracked open just wide enough for him to slip inside.

"How come I feel like a certain cat right now?" Grey sarcastically asked himself as he looked down through the open skylight to see an old catwalk hanging just below him. "I am going to completely regret this," Grey stated as he squeezed himself through the light and dropped onto the catwalk.

At this point, Grey followed the walkway all the way down to the end of the warehouse where he saw not only the thug he was tailing and his escorts but also a man who Grey bet was the leader of this group. That man still wore the same black suit with a gold pinstripe going down his suit but he wore it very loose without a single button is done up. Along with a set of sunglass that oddly enough reminded him of the ones that Tanner would wear on occasion.

"About time you got back here." The leader stated as he leaned over a makeshift table with multiple documents scattered over it. "What happened to you and for that matter where the heck is the rest of your little group!" He barked out angrily.

"Sssso…..sorry about that sss…..sir but there … was a problem." The thugs stammered out as he looked straight down trying to avoid eye contact.

"No kidding?" The leader sarcastically asked, "So why don't you tell me what happened!" he yelled however this time he slammed his fist down on the table causing the table to almost split from where he hit it.

"Ron, Cedar, and Brick got taken out by….by…..by something. I…I…I don't even know what it was." The Thug choked out as his head started to dart back and forth.

"Well, that kind of lines up with what our informant said" The leader stated a lot more calmly as he started to walk around the table "But what do you mean 'by something'? Don't you know what you saw?" He asked this time fixing his gaze solely on the thug.

"Well…ll it looked human … but there is no way it was." The thug stated, "Just at the end of the fight it…..it changed its arm somehow into….something from the pits of…..." however before he could finish his thought his boss jumped in cutting him off.

"Ok, before you go on any further I hope you know how crazy you sound right now." The boss stated

"Yeah, I know this sounds crazy but…." The thug said before he was interrupted once again.

"OK, ok, this is enough!" the boss yelled before he pointed towards one of the men who had escorted the thug in, "you two!" he forcefully shouted "get him out of here. I don't care what you do to him just get him out of here"

At the moment the escort started to drag the thug away but only to have him plead "NO, no, no, no! you have to believe me" the thug cried out clawed at his escorts

But before the thug was dragged too far away the boss turned back to his table where he pulled out a map the problem for Grey it was too far away to make it out. So Grey carefully started to lean over the railing trying to get a better look. Unfortunately, has he but some of his weight onto the old railing it collapsed causing Grey to tumble down landing into a bunch of crates. As he started to get his bearings again he looked directly in front of himself to see a bewildered boss and a ton of henchmen that were hidden from his view from up on the catwalk.

"That's it!" The thug yelled pointing towards Grey as he fought out of the grasps of the two man that were dragging him away. "That's the thing that beat Brick" He yelled as he started to run away.

At that moment the Boss turned to Grey looking him dead in the eye, "So is this true? Did you beat them" he asked as he bent down to get a look over Grey then after few moments he got back up and walked away from Grey. "So what are you doing?" he asked as he walked away.

"Well, I was heading home when I guess I made a wrong turn" Grey joked as he felt something tap his left hand. With the boss' back still turned to Grey he quickly glanced down to see what had touched his hand. There in two small clear vials was some finely ground Dust that Grey could only assume came from the crates he landed on. So he quickly rolled them under the palm of his hand to hide them the best he could without making an obvious scene.

As the boss got back to the small table he just started to giggle a little, "To joke in the face of certain death." The boss said as he turned back around to look directly a Grey once again. "I will give you credit for that, but you're not going home now," he said before he gestured to two men behind him as he turned to leave "Take care him."

As the two man got closer to Grey he quickly spoke up, "Hey" Grey yelled out. "Mind if I say one thing?" he asked towards the boss which caught his attention.

The boss turned around and looked directly at Grey once again, "Sure I'll give you that." He said with a smile on his face.

"Catch," Grey said as he loosened the caps of the dust vials and threw them towards the boss and the two thugs causing a blinding explosion. With that distraction, Grey slipped behind another mountain of crates as he started to head to the door that he saw before he entered.

But before he could get halfway to the front of the warehouse Grey could feel a wave of anger erupt from about where he was before he heard the boss. "Why are you standing around!?" he yelled, "Find him!"

As Grey slowly crawled in the shadows behind the boxes he could feel anger erupting all around him. But he didn't have the time to worry about that at this moment as he darted between crates trying to keep himself concealed. But as he continued through the warehouse he noticed a manila envelope that was resting on a crate but had fallen down because Grey had brushed aside it.

Though at first, he paid it no mind to it when he looked back to make sure he was clear it caught his eye for a single line on top of a sheet that fell out of slightly. 'Procedures to help move items to,' even though it was a single line of text it gave Grey the hope that he could give this to the military. With that he tucked the sheet back into the envelope and secured it inside of his coat then with that he proceeded onward.

After a while, Grey Finally reach the front of the warehouse only to find two thugs standing in front of the door. At this moment Grey instinctively reach for his weapons only to remember that he left them back at his place. "How am I supposed to get past them?" Grey asked himself. With that, he looked around trying to find something to help him out. However, there was nothing immediately around him except for the crates he was hiding behind.

So with desperation settling into him, Grey took his prosthetic arm an elbowed a crate causing multiple vials of dust spilling outwards from the hole. However, the sound of the breaking boards attracted the two guards towards him. But when they look behind the crate they couldn't find anything besides the vials scattered around. Though as they turned around Grey came back from around crate and threw a vial of lightning dust. Causing both thugs to convulse from the electricity coursing through their bodies. Then as they both collapsed on to the ground Grey quickly rushed out of the door and kept running for a while.

"I am going to be late tomorrow aren't I?" Grey said as he leaned against a wall two blocks away.


	13. Retaking the Knight

**Retaking the Knight**

The sun had set a long time ago but the leader of the White fang group had yet to grab the captain again. It has been so long since the hijacking tool place that Minjonet started to worry about Talon who was still circling above her head.

"Don't worry lass," The captain quietly said trying his best to reassure her, "They will need to take me soon to the radio station to confirm their story. They're more than likely trying to get to a spot for a good solid signal."

"That's assuming these animals have that much brain power between them all." Minjonet quietly stated as she still gazed up towards Talon hoping that he was doing alright.

"Hey lass," the Captain asked, however, this time there was more force in his voice causing Minjonet to look directly at him. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Uhhh. Sure." Minjonet said though there was a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Ever since this whole thing had had a cold feel, an all most unfeeling tone in your voice." The captain stated. "So why is that?" he asked.

But before Minjonet could even answer the question one of the White Fang thugs came over and hoisted the captain by his arm. "The Boss wants to see yea now." Thugs said as he brought him up by his arm.

With that the thug forcefully shoved the Captain forward, "OI, watch it," The Captain exclaimed just before the thug shoved the captain once more. However this time the Captain fell down on to the ground.

"Shut up you filth human!" The White Fang Thug yelled as he proceeded to yank the captain up by his arm once again, "you should just be thankful I don't wring your neck for speaking to me." Then with that, they disappeared through a door leaving Minjonet's sight.

At this point, Minjonet was on high alert waiting for the Captian to do whatever he was planning. Thankfully she didn't wait long before she heard some faint shouting in the distance, "Where's the Human?" one thug yelled from the upper deck.

"I can't find him anywhere!" someone chimed in.

Then a few moments latter a White Fang Lieutenant popped out from the top deck, "Listen up, we have an idiot who thinks they can escape find him."

"What about the other hostages?" one of the guards yelled back.

"Just leave Umber and get out and look for him." the lieutenant yelled back before he disappeared behind the railing.

After that, all of the guards left except for one who stood at the back of the group looking over everyone else there. Though as the last of the guards left her sight Minjonet started to stand up and as excepted this caused the lone guard to train her weapon on Minjonet.

"Get back down," She said as she moved closer to Minjonet keep her weapon at the ready. "Can't hear me?" she said as she stood just behind her, "I said get do…." Her voice trailed off as she fell down from Minjonet sweeping her foot underneath her. Then as she fell down Minjonet elbowed her in the jaw knocking her out.

This caught the other hostages off-guard as they backed away from Minjonet. "Don't be scared I'm a Huntress," Minjonet said in a hushed tone. "Just stay here and keep it," she said as she pointed to the guard.

With that, she left the group and proceeded to an empty area on the deck with a clear view of the sky above her. Then with her left arm resting down beside her, she pointed her first two fingers up towards the sky, then she jumped.

Though she kept rising up into the night sky leaving the ship behind heading for the meet up. It only took a couple seconds to get up to Talon. Then once she was there he dropped Skycrest and its sheaths along with its quivers into her hands. As she was fastening her quivers and sheath to herself Talon landed on a leather Pauldron over her right shoulder.

"Sorry Talon," Minjonet said as she scratched under his chin. "Sorry for keeping you waiting."

As she finished tightening the last strap on her sheath she drew out Skycrest with her right hand. However, she quickly threw her sword from her right hand but as it soared through the air it changed form.

Her sword split in half revelling a cord that was attached to both ends of the blades. Then one half spun around but before it reached the bottom both halves of the blade curved slightly pulling the cord tight. Once everything had settled in her newly formed recurve bow the grip flew into her left hand where she gripped it tight.

There in the moon light Minjonet looked down over the ship planning out her strategy for liberating the ship. After she had figured out her plan Minjonet gave a slight nod and glided to the rear of the ship. Once she arrived over the rear of the ship Minjonet saw two grunts looking around there, her best guess looking for the captain. So she watched them for a bit learning their movements, the rocking of the ship, and the direction of the wind.

After a few seconds of absorbing the information around her she drew out an arrow from the quiver on her hip causing Talon to fly off her shoulder. As she notched the arrow to the drawstring pulling it back in the process it felt as everything around her slowed. As the bow was fully drawn Minjonet looked down the shaft of arrow following the first thug. But before he disappeared underneath the top deck Minjonet repositioned her aim just slightly off the ship. She pointed her first two figures from her left hand while she still held the grip of her bow. There at the location she pointed towards a black dot begun to appear off to the side of the deck. Just before she let go of the arrow she shifted he aim slightly off then let the arrow fly and clenched her fist.

As the arrow flew down towards the sea Minjonet pulled out the next arrow from her quiver on her side. Then as the arrow flew near the black dot the arrow curved around it flinging it towards the ship. And as the second grunt jumped at the sound of his friend hitting the deck Minjonet let the second arrow fly down. Then as the arrow struck the grunt the arrow head exploded releasing electric dust on to him causing him to twitch as he fell down unconscious.

Once Minjonet was sure he was out she slowly floated back down on to the deck of the ship. As she landed on the deck she pulled another arrow from her quiver, notched, but not yet drawn. She threw her shoulder in to the wall keeping herself behind the corner. Then as she spun around the corner she pulled back on the cord ready to let it soar. She scanned down the port side of ship making sure there was no one else there, once she was sure no one else she walked down to the first thug she fired at. As Minjonet arrived over the downed grunt she gave him a kick with the heel of her boot to reaffirm that he was out.

After she was sure he was out she relaxed the bowstring but still kept the arrow ready. Minjonet kept walking down the walkway keeping her bow at the ready staying as close as possible to the wall. Minjonet eventually found a staircase up to the second deck and with some warranted caution she proceeded the stairs.

As she neared the top of the stairs she took a quick look around to make sure it was clear. It was clear no one was around, however, she could see shadows moving from the bridge of the ship. Once Minjonet was sure she could move she quickly dashed to wall under the window to keep herself hidden.

Minjonet quickly peaked her head up through the window looking to see who was in there. By her count, there were at least six grunts and two lieutenants manning the bridge but their leader was not among them. Though as Minjonet looked around that room she could see there was a different atmosphere then she expected. Inside the room, there was almost a calm order that caught her off guard but she soon found out why. There in the corner of the room, there was a half beaten captain slouching down.

Minjonet quickly lowered her head back down and started to formulate her plan, how she was going beat them. Then as the pieces of her plan fell into place she gave another quick nod and released her arrow from the bow. Though it was replaced by another arrow this time from the quiver from over her shoulder. However, she did not let go of her previous arrow she kept holding in her hand read to let it fly.

As soon as she was ready she leapt up and fired the arrow through the glass window lodging it into a support on the other side of the room. Everyone that was in that room instinctually looks at the arrow and while they did Minjonet notched the other arrow and fired it through the hole that she made. But instead firing the arrow in the same direction she fired it up to the roof causing a small explosion that blew out the glass and dazed the two that were close to the window.

After the glass had been removed she jump through the window throwing a quick punch with her left hand to one of the grunts that where dazed. With that she threw her bow across her body and as she did that she elbowed the other grunt in the face with her right arm. As Skycrest flew through the air it shift from bow to sword with the grip landing in her right hand. Once she had Skycrest in her hand she slashed towards both grunts causing them to fall down. As both where falling down Minjonet jumped over a small table kicking another grunt in the side of her head.

However, as she landed back on her Minjonet quickly raised her sword to block a downward strike from one of the other grunts. But with a little sword play, she quickly shifted his balance and threw him through the window on the other side of the bridge. With that, she spun around and pointed her right shoulder towards the two lieutenants with her sword in line with her downward arm.

If they were shocked by what had happened the masks hid that fact well but they quickly regained their posture and readied their weapons. One had a single-handed sword that she held in her right hand while the other had extend out some kind mace. The three of them stared each other down for what felt like the better part of a minute. After some time had gone by the lieutenant with the mace charged towards Minjonet but she was ready and with an upwards slash she deflected the attack. But as she did that the first lieutenant lunged towards Minjonet however she caught the sword with a hole that was in the middle of Skycrest. With a quick twist of Minjonet's wrist she pulled the sword free from the lieutenant's hands. Then in same motion planted the tip Skycrest into the floor spinning around to kick the one lieutenant in the head with the back of her heel. Though as she landed she threw an arrow from the quiver on her hip towards the standing lieutenant. Then as the arrow flew towards him the head exploded to reveal a bolas that wrapped around the lieutenant binding his arms to his side.

With the last lieutenant tied up Minjonet tock the tip of Skycrest and pushed the lieutenant down onto the ground where he struggled down there. With everyone else down Minjonet looked over to the bloodied captain who was staring up at her.

"I guess, I wrong lass," the captain said with a glazed look in his eyes.

"I couldn't have done it out your distraction." Minjonet calmly said as she caught her breath. But before she could walk across the room she heard a scream from the front of the boat. So Minjonet quickly rushed to the front of the upper deck. Though once she looked over she could see the leader of the group standing there with a women held in his arms, his weapon to her throat.

"Well, well so you're the thorn in my side" The leader as he kept a tight grip on his hostage. "Throw your weapon over the railing and raise hands like the worthless animal you humans are."

Minjonet looked at him for a moment before she gave a quick heavy sigh before she threw Skycrest down onto the lower deck. She then raised her hands over her head and pointed her first two fingers of her left hand over the leaders head.

"That's a good little human," the leader mockingly stated.

"What do you want?" Minjonet asked in a cold tone of voice. "If it was money you sure mucked it up."

"Money?" the leader yelled before he started to laugh "No, this was a message! To prove that you humans are weak, That Adam is right."

"You know what?" Minjonet asked, "If you we're weak ones then why do you have the claw marks on you face?"

But before the leader could respond Talon swooped down from the sky feet outstretched ready to claw the leaders face. Then as Talon slapped the leader with his wings he let go of his hostage as he tried to bat him away. With the distraction, Minjonet jumped down from the upper deck but as she landed she rolled along the floor to pick up Skycrest. Afterwards, talon flew off and once he did Minjonet closed her left hand causing the leader to be suspended in the air.

"Just be thankful I don't throw you up into the air and let you fall," Minjonet said as proceeded to clock the leader on the side of the head with the guard of Skycrest. Then as he fell down to the deck Minjonet looked at him. "Who's weak now?" She declared in an ice-cold tone.


	14. Rubble Reshaped

**Rubble Reshaped.**

The morning air was frigged as Stella began to wake from her restless slumber. As her eyes begun to adjust to morning she streched out her arms over head to help loosen her muscles from the previous night. As soon as she felt more alert she threw her legs over the side of the cot and proceed to further strech as she sat there. The sun's light was visably creeping over the edges of the crumbling walls casting rays of light above her head allowing her to fully see the state of the village.

The night had concealed much of the damage that the Grimm had from their onslaught. Many buildings that were standing last had fallen over the coarse of the night. The street lights that hadn't burned down were revealed to have be snapped like a twig under foot littering the streets in shards of wood and glass. There was no longer a market the square but instead makeshift tents and shelters lined area. And the stonewalls that helped to keep this village safe were crumbling under their on weight.

Stella sat there in silence as she looked over all wreckage, woudering what would happen now to this unfortunate place. As she slowly start stand up she could feel the sun's warmth hit bring a wave of energy through every fiber of her body. Stella stood there for a few moments allowing herself to be bathed the sun's light. With new found energy Stella sheathed Iuris on her hip and collapsed Autem resting it on her back once again as she walked towards the gate of the village.

Apon Stella's arrivel she found a make shift barricade constructed from the remains of a fallen house with two villagers leaning against it. "Hello there," Stella quietly yelled towards them as she waved. However no response was given by the two so she walked over to the barricade and as she got closer to it she got her answer.

The two villagers had fallen asleep against their creation with torchs smothered in the dirt. When Stella first saw this she angry with the fact that they had fallen asleep but after a heavy sigh her outlook changed. They weren't huntsmen, not even officers, they most likely feel asleep due to the adrenaline wearing off in their system from last night. Even Stella knew that she had to have been running off of adrenaline for most of that night.

But Stella's gaze was quickly shifted from the two villagers to the mangled gate that was behind them. The gate was still open but one of doors broken from it's hinges causing it to lean at a weird angle. Stella hopped over the waist high barricade and proceeded forward towards to the fallen gate. Once Stella arrived at the gate she reached out with her left hand and pushed the gate back into its hinge with very little visable strain.

Once the door was resting back in in it's hinges Stella turned around to see Aaron with a shocked expression on his face. "How did you do that?" He asked immediately, "That gate is twice your size and if I had to guess four times your weight." Stella Clenched her fist as she was debating wether or not she should deck him across the head for making such a remake. But agianst her desire Stella silently walked past Aaron towards the village square him leaving him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. However Aaron refused to let it go, "Come on tell me how you did that" Aaron pleaded behind her.

After the two had reached the square with Aaron still asking the same question over and over again did Stella turn around and gestured her finger under his chin. "Listen," Stella forcefull said with annoyance hang in her voice. "If I can do that, Whats stopping me from throwing you half way too Vale?" She asked hopping to shut him up.

"Wait, can you really do that?" Aaron asked completely obvious to his situation.

Stella just dropped head as she realized that he was infact even slower witted then Tanner. So she turned around once again leaving him behind trying her best to ignore him but that only seemed to increase the number of questions.

As they arrived in the square Stella could see more people awake, some where going around to every one there trying to help others the best they can. Others held there family and friends tight arms as if they would never let go. while the rest held a look of defeat on face as they realized that it was not just a dream a look that Stella remembered well.

But as Stella stood there another familiar face walked up to them,"Glad too see that you got some rest" the villager from the previous night said as he outstretched his arm.

"if you can call it rest" Stella remarked as she shock his hand "I don't believe I caught your name last night sir..."

"Ah, sorry about that."He said with a new formed smile on his face. "My name is Rust though everyone just calls me Rus, ms...?"

"Scuti, Stella Scuti." Stella remarked as she finally let go of his hand.

"Scuti?" Rus said as he streched under his chin, "You wouldn't happen to be the Huntress the mayor hired to help protect this place, would you?" he asked

"Yes I am" Stella responded in a saddened tone, "I do hope you can forgive me for not being here."

However Rus just waved it off, "I don't blame you for what happened here," Rus said in reassuring tone. "Though I would wager that there are a few people that wouldn't share my perspective. Though I wager that you could say that you use to defend this place. But heck with out your friend there things might have turned out worse." Rus said as he pointed towards Aaron.

"Me?" Aaron asked he pointed to himself.

"Yeah, you sure know your first aid." Rus admitted. "If you weren't around I think there would be a few more momentous,"

Before Aaron could respond Stella quickly inturupted the two off them, "I'm sorry what do you mean 'use to'" she inquired.

"Ah yeah, I guess you two wouldn't know, whould you" Rus quickly chimed in. "Alot of people are planing on leaving here either handing to Atlas or somewhere else."

Stella look around once again as Rus and Aaron start talking again. And he was right many people had eithef on them or resting close by them. After while of looking around Stella started to think back to that night. Think about how she failed again but this time it was more then one person this time. it was a full this time village. But as she started to go down that road of self-doubt Stella could hear a faint buzzing noise. She looked around trying to figure out where it was coming from but as she looked around she could feel something vibrate inside of her jacket.

She pulled out her scroll and opened it up as it was vibrating, as the screen came to life she Minjonet's name on the screen so she quickly answered it. "Minjonet?" Stella asked over the line all most expecting some one else to answer.

"Ye... it's me" Minjonet voice barely cutting through the static over the line. "you wouldn't be...li..ve the night ... had." Her voice still not getting through as clearly as it could.

"Sorry Minjonet your not coming through too clear" Stella stated hoping it would make it through the static, "Though I could say the saming to you."

"Ye..ah I bet you..." At that moment the line went silent, the call had ended. Stella quickly tried to redial but it was no use she couldn't get the line back up.

Stella collapsed her scroll once again she knew that Minjonet was allright it was the problem with the connection but that was out of both their hands. However the brief call was enough to recenter Stella helping her to remember that this fight wasn't over yet fight was not lose yet.

Ok just a quick thing sorry about this chapter my computer decided to act causing me to right this on my tablet so there where some issues writing this chapter. I am hoping to have those problems sorted out for the next chapter, though you can never know with this so thanks for the patience.

K


	15. Repaying a Debt

**Repaying a Debt**

Tanner had found himself in an uneasy spot once again though this time it was very different compared to his over encounters. He sat at an end of a table with a hot meal resting in front of him but it was not the food that made him uneasy but instead the hosts to his meal were the ones. Kore and her father sat at the other end of the table and had already started to pick away at their food. The food was delicious and it had been a long time since Tanner had a home cooked meal of any calibre and for that, he was thankful for.

But what made Tanner uneasy was the complete silence that hung over the table along with the fact that Kore's father seemed very unhappy about this. Tanner could tell that he was upset by this by how aggressively he dug into his meal with his utensils. So knowing that Tanner decided to just to stay quiet and eat his food to make the best out of his situation.

As he began to eat his meal his eyes wandered around the room that he was in taking all the sights of their little house. Though calling it little was an understatement even though it looked rather small from the outside it was in fact quite spacious on the inside. To his left, there was a narrow staircase that lead up to a second floor that was hidden from sight. Then behind Kore's father was a doorway that by Tanners best guess was a kitchen judging by the cabinets he could see. Behind Tanner was a small couch that sat in front of a lit fireplace with a couple pictures rest on the mantle. And along the walls there many more pictures though many were hard to make out in the low light of the house.

"Toothpick?" Kore pipped up breaking the heavy silence that filled the room, "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What?" Tanner quietly responded as he tried to swallow the food that was in his mouth.

"How did you do that back there?" Kore asked as she rested her head on top her hands.

"Do what?" Tanner asked confused by her question.

"You know," Kore stated as if Tanner could read her mind, "back when you were fighting those Creeps. You would kick and punch them from a good 5 feet away but they still seemed like they got hit by something."

"Oh that" Tanner quietly responded "That was just my semblance"

"Semblance?" Kore asked

Tanner was about to respond but was cut by Kore's father cutting in drawing both of their attention. "HMPF! That weird Hunter magic," he exclaimed while he chowed down on his meal.

"Magic?" Kore asked sounding even more confused than before, shifting her sight back towards Tanner.

"Well, it's no such thing as magic." Tanner said trying his best to clear it up, "it's more like manifesting your soul." Though as he said that he could tell it didn't really help.

"OK, Toothpick," Kore quickly snapped back, " 'Manifesting your soul' sounds a lot like magic to me."

Tanner couldn't help but rub the back of his neck as he could understand where she was coming from. He once thought the same way that all Huntsmen and Huntresses had some magical power. "OK, let's just drop that argument for now, alright?" Tanner asked hoping he could finally catch a break.

"Sure, why not." Kore quickly answered while her father gave another heavy humph. "But you really haven't answered my question yet. How did you do that?"

"Well," Tanner said as he finished swallowing the remaining food that was on his plate. "it's was just my semblance." Though as he finished saying he could tell that Kore was still confused on the matter. "OK, I'm guessing you don't know how they work, correct?" he asked Kore who simply shook her head back and forth as her father gathered up the plates and headed back into the kitchen.

"OK, Well a person's semblance is again a manifestation of their soul so all them unique in one way or another. Some people could disappear into thin air while others could maybe move things with their mind, for me, I can amplify vibrations."

"You what now?" Kore quickly asked as her face contorted into a very confused expression.

"Alright," Tanner said under his breath trying to think of the best way to explain this. "You know how sound travels right?" he asked hoping to get a break

"Yeah." She said giving a quick nod as well.

"Well, I can take the vibrations formed by sound and amplify them into pressure wave that I can direct," Tanner stated hoping that it would finally make sense.

"That's why you were playing that garbage," Kore said as she snapped her figures.

Tanner buried his face in his hand feeling a little hurt but glad he managed to finally make some sense. "Yes that's right," Tanner responded, "and that was not 'garbage' that was music," he said trying his best not to sound petty.

"Whatever you say toothpick," Kore quickly retorted, "but if you play that 'music' here I don't even think my dad's hospitality would help you out." She said as she got up from the table and proceeded up the staircase.

Tanner looked toward the kitchen he could not see her father but he just thought if this was hospitality he did not want to see what he was like angry. With that Tanner also got up from his seat but he decided to move in front of the fireplace to warm his cold hands. So Tanner squatted in front of it holding his hands out to flames letting the heat enter his body.

Though as he was there his gaze shifted to the pictures that rested on the mantle. There three pictures lined the mantle and the first two he quickly glazed over. But as soon as he got over to the third picture he could not help but stare at it for a while.

In the picture were three people, two of them Tanner quickly recognized as being Kore and her father. And the third person in the frame he not seen though he had to guess that it was Kore's mother.

"What do think you're doing?" Kore quietly yelled at Tanner causing him to spin around to see that Kore had already come back from upper level with a couple blankets and a pillow in her hands.

"I…." Tanner trailed off as Kore marched over to him throwing the blankets down onto the couch and snatching the picture out of his hands "Sorry about that," he said hoping not to incur her fathers or even her anger. However, she did not respond instead she only looked down at the picture in her hands. "She's your mother right?" he asked but Kore still did not respond, "Where is she if you don't mind me asking?"

"Dead," Kore finally spoke up as she rested the picture on the mantle again before she leaned against the wall right next to it.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Tanner said in understanding tone "How did she…"

"Die?" Kore quickly cutting in finishing his sentence looking over at Tanner with a gaze so sharp Tanner swear it could have killed him. "She was killed by a Huntsmen."

This just shocked Tanner to his core values, "What…." Tanner slowly wheezed out.

"Not in the way you think," Kore said trying to clarify what she had said earlier, "but it was because of what he didn't do that lead to her death."

After that silence filled the air again as Kore paused her story and looked out towards space. "About a year ago before that village was formed my father had asked a Huntsman to help clear out some Grimm that were in the woods. The problem was he wanted more from father then was originally agreed on in the contract so they got into a heated argument with the huntsmen leaving Grimm in the woods. Then one night when my mother was tending the fields she was attacked. We didn't know what attacked her but in the morning we had found her body in the fields."

"So that's why you hate…" Tanner said realizing what he had gotten himself into.

"Yeah." Kore snapped back at Tanner, "All Huntsmen are weasels who only care about fame and money. Even you are." She said as she once again glared at Tanner. "Now I don't know what your end game is but I know where it's going to end with you extorting my father all he has left so just get comfy and sleep for the night," Kore said as she got up from leaning against the wall and proceeded to march back upstairs.

Tanner stood in front of the fire for a while still watching flames wither away. After a while, Kore's father left the kitchen and proceeded up the small staircase himself. A few more minutes of complete silence had passed before Tanner decide to sit down on the couch and unrolled the blankets he was given. Once Tanner had laid down he just stared up at the ceiling as if there was something important up there.

"In the woods, huh" Tanner mumbled to himself before he fell asleep.


	16. Shadow Within Shadow

Hello everyone, just before this chapter I wanted to wish everyone a happy holidays and a happy new year. and if you want to join in a holiday wish for the new year for the all the countries in the world to find peace and stability in these troubling times.

Thank you

K

 **Shadow Within Shadow**

"Uggghhhhh…." Grey moaned as he entered his apartment closing the door behind him. As he closed his door Grey threw his coat on to his couch in the centre of his place. Once the door was fully shut Grey walked to the couch and threw himself onto it letting out another long moan.

"Note…to…..self," Grey slow moaned out as he rested his head on the crest of the couch. "Don't…..go to…work…..after a….warehouse party." Grey let out a small smile as he finished saying those last words.

Grey could feel his whole body crying out in agony, every muscle was pushed to its limits and beyond. Even though his aura was healing him by simply not allowing his body to rest what every it heal was simply injured again. But now that Grey had finally stopped moving he could slowly feel his body slowly starting to heal.

After a few minutes had passed Grey lifted his head off the crest of the coach allowing him to stare down his body. While Grey had his neck craned to look down his sight was drawn to an object that rested on a small coffee table in front of him. The object was the manila envelope that he recovered last night.

"Oh….That's what I forgot," Grey moaned as he leaned forward picking up the envelope.

He stared at it for a while it was still unsealed from last night with all the pages tucked away. For a few moments, he looks at the envelope debating what he should next, then with a look of determination in eyes he opened it and pulled out the pages within. Grey slowly read over the pages from inside the envelope but as read further and further into the pages he only got angrier.

"Curse it!" Grey yelled as he threw the pages down onto the coffee table. "They're no longer in Atlas. That makes these documents worth less! They don't even say where they might be!"

Grey started to run his fingers through his hair out of anger. Soon though he felt a cold sensation running down his spine causing to almost freeze up. He closed his eyes in an effort to help calm his nerves.

As he opened his eyes he felt calmer then he was before but his gaze shortly drifted to a dark corner where two crimson eyes stared back at him. The eyes floating within the darkness seemed to glare at him with a hunger in them. However Grey glared back at them with a complete hatred in eyes.

"I'm never going to let you out," Grey declared in a hushed voice, "As long as I am conscious and in control, you will never gain control."

Though the eyes lingered still staring back at him from the shadows.

"I need to get some air," Grey said as he quickly rose from the coach grabbing his coat in the process. Before he left his apartment his gaze shifted back to the dark corner where the crimson eye use to be. "I won't repeat those nights ever again." He said as he opened the door to leave.

Grey walked the streets with the sun still hanging high the sky though as he walked he found himself walking past the warehouse from last night. Around the warehouse a heavy police presence had over taken it. Grey looked around trying to see if they had any transport for prisoners. As he looked around he couldn't see any. Causing as sense fear to grab a hold of him as he looked over the sight.

He walked up to the line that the officers had formed causing one officer to step forward towards Grey. "Hold it right there," the officer said holding out his arm towards Grey, "you are not aloud in here."

"Sorry officer," Grey apologized towards the officer, "But if it's can you answer a few questions?"

"Great the press is already here," The officer quickly mumbled, "Fine, but only two questions,"

"Thanks," Grey said as he thought over what he would ask, "Alright first question then do you know what happened here?" Grey asked trying his best to sound as if he was a reporter.

"We can't be too sure but it looks like a storage area for illegal goods." The officer answered keeping everything vague.

"Alright then," Grey said hopping that he managed to hide the fact that he was here though he was upset that he wasted a question. "Did you manage to capture anyone who was there?" he asked hoping to hear that they had captured them all.

"Yes, we managed to arrest several people who we can directly link to here. however, we believe there may be more out there." The officer said with a degree of certainty in his voice.

"Can you say who you arrested?" Grey asked instantly hoping to figure out who they had.

"I said I would answer two questions and you got your two answers now move along there's work to be down here." The officer said as he started to walk away.

Grey felt his heart sink as the officer walked away but he knew that he had to walk away as well. "So there's a chance that they could find out…" his voice trailed as he thought over it. But as Grey started to walk away a stray thought popped into his head which helped calm him down further. "Huh, that would require at least one of them to be in some shady business. And knowing my friends I highly doubt that." Grey admitted trying his best to reassure himself.

The day kept rolling on as Grey walked streets still trying his best to reassure himself that he was still hidden from them, still hidden from his friends. Though as Grey walked around a corner his gaze was caught by a simple sight of four people laughing as they walked down the opposite street. Grey didn't know them but his mind overlaid him and his friend over top of the four strangers doing the same thing just walking and talking. Causing many fond memories to come to the forefront of his thoughts though instead of feeling happy they only caused him to feel sadness.

"I can't," Grey quietly whispered to himself, "I need to learn how to control this… this thing better, I can't risk my friends' safety." Grey walked past the four strangers as he looked down to his left hand "I have only gone to that point twice but every time I have I completely lost control."

Grey still kept his head down staring at his hand as he kept walking forward. But as he passed a store front window his gaze was quickly pulled away to a screen just behind the window. There was no audio that grey could here however the news was showing pictures of the warehouse he was at. Pictures of both the warehouse and the people they had taken in to custody. Many of the mugshots were that of the lower level thugs but Grey kept watching, all most hoping to see one picture. But as he was about to turn and leave the mugshot of the leader that Grey had encounter last night flashed on to the screen along with the other thugs who had been taken in.

Grey felt a sense of happiest that he hadn't felt day, a feeling that said everything was going to work out in the end, a feeling he was very unaccustomed to. He gave a silent nod as he started to walk back to his place feeling glad that his secret was once again safe. Although Grey also felt something else mixing in as he walked further away. A sense of almost longing to have his secret broken and once again to join his friends.

"I can't have that," Grey mumbled to himself again, trying to comfort himself. He quickly glanced over his shoulder seeing if there was anyone around him. With no one around him, Grey grabbed a small picture out his coat that had been folded so many times that a clear crease had formed in the centre.

In the picture, his friends had huge smiles on their faces with himself off to the side giving something that could be called a smirk. Grey couldn't remember when they took this picture but he knew that it was before that night.

Grey kept staring at that picture as he walked down the street completely absorbed into the picture letting everything dissolve away. He was so distracted he walked face first into a street light causing a few passersby to snicker a little. After Grey had peeled himself off of the street he gave one last look down at picture. Then with the same smirk he gave the picture he folded the picture back up and tucked it back into his coat.

"There is almost nothing I wouldn't give up to see them again," Grey mumbled once again as he started top walk again this time keeping all distraction out of his sight.

"The problem becomes," Grey silently said as walked down the street, "if they find out my deal to him would surely become null-n-void and I can't risk that." With that Grey looked down at his right hand dragging the deal he struck with the man on that night. "If he finds out that I'm not dead he would more than likely try to force me out and what better way to do that then attack my friends."

But no sooner as the words left his mouth another cold sensation ran down his spine causing to Grey to look around. He quickly turned his head to a darkened alley that was to his side and down there were the same crimson eyes staring back at him. Though they were different this time instead of glaring at him with a hungry look they looked at him almost like they wanted to make a deal.

However Grey stood at the entrance to the alley in silence, not moving even the slightest. He knew that if he walked down that alley it would take control and this fictional deal would be thrown away. Though as the two stared each other the crimson eyes faded back into the shadows signalling that Grey had kept control once again.

"The only way you're ever coming out," Grey silently declared, "is if we meet him again."


	17. Following Stars

**Following Stars**

The morning sun seemed to rise even earlier than normal for Minjonet as she stirred to try to keep the light out of her eyes and to go back to sleep. But as she tried her best to stay asleep it only seemed to help wake her up from the short rest that she had.

As her eyes slowly started to open she could make out faint shadows in front of her but as her eyes adjusted to the morning she was able to figure out who they belong too. Perched right in front of the window to Minjonet's tiny room was Talon who already seemed to be fully awake and waiting for her to wake up. After a couple of seconds had pasted Talon gave a jarring cry trying his best to wake her up.

"Come on you couldn't have let me sleep for a little bit longer," She pleaded to Talon but he only let out another cry cementing his position. "Uhh," Minjonet moaned as she realized she was not going to win this fight.

Once she was ready with Skycreast secured over her shoulder she left the small cabin on the ship that the captain had graciously let her sleep in for the night. the ship was docked at a port after the events of the previous night with many investigators already coming over the deck trying to figure out how the White Fang got aboard. Minjonet kept quiet as she walked past the investigators as she disembarked from the ship as she already told them what had happened last night.

As Minjonet's feet hit the sold dock Talon swooped down landing on her right pauldron and started to sleep after the night they had. Minjonet tried her best to keep him still as she walked away from the docks into the tiny town that had formed around the dock.

She started to retighten one of the straps that held both Skycrest and one of the quivers on her back when she heard a familiar voice calling her from one of the shacks of to the side.

"Well isn't... it the... huntress of the hour." The Captain exclaimed slurring every second word right before he downed the rest of his drink in his mug.

"Good mourning Captian, Thanks again for letting me sleep on the ship last night," Minjont said as she walked over to the Captain.

"Don't worry about" He exclaimed again waving it off this time, "Hey 'hic' if you ever need a shi...ip to get you somewhere don't hes... hesitate to ask." he calmly said as he had the bartender fill up his mug once more.

As Minjonet got closer to him she could smell the liquor on his breath and all around him. "I might hold you to that, and possibly need to remind you when you sober up," Minjonet answered the drunk Captian with the last part of her response in a hushed tone.

The Captian took a sip from his recently filled mug before placing it down once again onto the bar. "So you 'hic' got a job out 'hic' here or something?" he asked as he swayed on his stool.

"UH... To be perfectly honest I was hoping more to find something when I got here." Minjonet answered.

"Is that so?" The Captian responded as he lowered his mug again. "Well I 'hic' believe I saw a 'hic' job board down that way," he said as he tried to point down the dock towards it only to have his whole arm sway.

"Thanks," Minjonet said as she waved goodbye to the drunken Captian as she headed off towards the town's job board.

As she was walking towards to the board she decided to pull out her Scroll and look through it. She soon arrived on Tanner and Stella's name and contact information on her list. She looked at the names for a bit debating whether or not to contact her friends. But as she looked down at her Scroll her gaze soon narrowed on to Stella's name.

Stella and she had always gotten along better than with Tanner or even Grey for that matter. Her and Stella were as close as family in her opinion but Tanner was still a good friend to her as well even though his antics could get tiresome. She soon tapped on Stella's name as she rose it up to her ear hoping that she could get through to her.

Minjonet kept walking as she waited for the call to connect listening to the ringing from her scroll.

"Minjonet?" Stella's voice suddenly erupted over the line though it was also covered in static

"Yeah, it's me" Minjonet answered in a cheerful tone as she heard her friend, "you wouldn't believe the night I had."

"Sorry, Minjonet ... not coming thro...ugh too clear, Though I could ... the same thing ... to you," Stella said over the line as she faded in and out over the line.

"Yeah, I bet you could say so too, but anyways how are things going for you?" Minjonet asked only too nothing over the line. She quickly looked at her Scroll to see if they were still connected. But she had lost the connection to Stella.

Minjonet tried again to get a hold of her but she could not get through to her a second time. "Darn system, never works when you want it to." She said closing her Scroll and tucking it away inside of her coat as she continued to where the Captian had pointed towards.

Thankfully the captains swaying arm hand pointed to the general area of the board. As neared the sight she could that this wasn't much of an active area. The board was small in comparison to many that she had seen before. On the screen, there were a few jobs that she could see underneath the static that lined the screen from where she was.

As she neared it became easier to read the jobs that were hidden behind the static. But as she feared as she neared the sign most of the jobs that where on the board had already been claimed with only one free job on the board.

Thankfully for Minjonet, it was a search and rescue mission one of the few she really excelled at. And for what she read it seemed simple enough, Retrieve the contents of a supply caravan that was hit while it was on a return trip back to the town.

"Well, it seems simple enough, what do think Talon?" Minjonet asked Talon but as she turned to look at him he was still sleeping on her shoulder.

Minjonet let out a small laugh out as she looked at him still sound asleep from this mourning. But no sooner did she let out her small laugh, she turned back to the board and accepted the job.


	18. The End Of a Job

**The End Of a Job.**

It had been a hard couple days for Stella as she tried to help rebuild the ruined village. She was working to such an extreme that the days started to blend into a single day with a couple of breaks sprinkled throughout them. Her mornings started with her usually waking up from the short nap she could range from the previous day. After she shook off the morning sluggishness she would then help clear some of the rubble from around the village sorting out the lubber that could reclaim from the lubber whos only use at this point was for firewood to help keep them warm at night.

Once a small area had been cleared away she would then start working on the frame for a new building whether it had walls or not didn't matter, all that matter to her was getting a roof erected. Once the roof was up she would help some of the people who decided to try and rebuilt though those few have started to become scares. However, while she would work she would need to drop what everything once in a while to help defend the village from Grimm that had wandered close to the village.

But those attacks had become rarer as people decide to leave the village to either head back to Atlas or another village located somewhere else. The first couple days there would be waves of people that would leave. Then it seemed to stop with only a few people trickling out of the gate either joining with a passing transport or striking out on their own. Though it had started to pick up again with many people leaving the village saying that between the Grimm attacks and the state of things that they had a better chance starting over again somewhere else.

However, that didn't deter Stella from trying to rebuild this village that she felt she had failed though ever mourning she admitted to her self that maybe this was the end for this place. But she kept going determined not to give in till the end, when either this village was built back up or till everything fell around her into memory.

"How's she going, Stella?" A voice erupted behind her causing her to snap out of the trees she was in.

Stella turned her head to see who was behind her and there walking towards her was Rus walking towards her. "Well it's finally standing up without shaking too much," she responded as she turned back to her work.

"I guess that's about all we can ask for about now," Rus said as he looked at the structure that she had been building. "This might work for a nice soup house or something along that line."

"What about the families that are still sleeping in the tents?" Stella asked with a confused look on her face.

"Everyone who staying around has a roof over their heads." Rus calmly explained

"What about the one couple that was in the tent last night?" Stella asked again with the confusion in her voice.

"One of the over families just left today so the couple moved in to there. Heck, there aren't too many people here anymore," he responded with the last few words holding a grim tune in his voice.

Stella stopped and just stood there before she spoke up but her words where almost whispers, "How many are still here?" She asked

"Not many. I'm even thinking of leaving myself." Rus answered, "What about you?"

"I intended to stay," Stella answered with determination in her voice as she went back to her work.

"You might be the only one." Rus replied "I pretty sure everyone else is planning on leaving with the next transport to where ever. Heck, even your friend Aaron is gone he just left this mourning."

"We weren't friends" Stella sharply stated, "But, did he at least say where he was going to?"

Rus looked up towards the sky before he answered, "Nope, just up'n left I didn't even know till a few minutes ago myself."

Stella stopped for a few moments as she let the mallet that she was using to build the shelter rest against the support beam as she thought over everything that had happened in these past few days. From the recent memorial for Grey, the Grimm attack that devasted the village that she was supposed to protect, and to now as she tried to help rebuild the village it seemed that everyone else was leaving for anywhere else.

"Well, then I guess this will work for a soup kitchen," Stella admitted as she let the mallet fall to her side.

"Hey don't sound so down," Rus quickly jumped in, "you have done more then most people can ask for. Just look at what you're doing, here you are building a shelter to rebuild this village while everyone else is packing up to leave. In my opinion, you've done more then enough for everyone if they choose to leave it's not on you it's just the way of life."

Stella didn't say anything to that but she did let his meaning sink in. But for her, she felt like she could have done more. She could've stayed to help defend against the bandit attack, to help prevent the Grimm attack. but she never voiced her thoughts to Rus as he stood there. Instead, Stella turned away from the structure she was building and left it and Rus behind as she moved on to the next thing on her list.

Stella walked to what remained of the front gate hoping to start her guard shift earlier to help her organize her thoughts. But she arrived at the gate she saw a group of people gathering next to the rood. Beside them was a pile of sacks and suitcases.

"What are you doing?" Stella asked even though she felt she knew the answer.

"We're leaving," A lady from the crowd responded. "We're leaving this ruin of a town."

Stella looked over the crowd counting silently in her head to figure how many had decided to leave. As she counted she realized that this wasn't just a small group from the village, but it was the remaining people from the village.

But before she could speak a small transport truck came into view from over the hill and as it got closer it slowed down. As it came to a stop a driver poked his head from the cabin, "Do you all need a lift?" he asked the crowd.

"Yes we do." a man from the crowd responded to the driver.

"Well I got some room in the back might be a tight squeeze." the Driver stated as he pointed to the back of his transport.

Stella stood back and watched as the people started to get inside the transport either with their bags or without them. Before long everyone was inside the transport as it went on its way disappearing over another hill. She still stood there for a few minutes as she thought about what to do next.

After a couple minutes, Rus came up behind her and looked around at the empty spot. "They all left now right?" he asked as he kept looking around.

Stella didn't answer but instead nodded her head giving Rus the answer he was looking for.

"Look, I was planning on heading to Vale soon, see if any of the fishing ports would take in a new fisher" Rus said as he stretched the back of his head. "If you want, you could hitch a ride with me there or you could stay here."

Stella still did not answer for a few moments as she thought over the offer. "Sure, why not?" Stella Responded with sadness hanging in her voice.


	19. We Hunt at Dawn

**We Hunt at Dawn**

The Sun had barely risen over the horizon as Tanner had finished folding the sheets up that he had borrowed from the following night. The house was quiet for the most part except for the sound of snoring coming from the second floor. Tanner did not pay it any mind as he tried his best to keep quiet as he moved through the house without waking his hosts. He walked past the table that he had sat at last night leaving a small note thanking them for their kindness and hospitality. Once he finished leaving the note on table Tanner proceeded to the front door. And as he opened the door a quiet creek erupted from the hinges that held onto the door.

He froze at the door as he waited to hear if he had awoken anyone from their sleep. The house grew even more quiet with the disappearance of the snoring from the second floor. Tanner waited around hoping that everything would come back around. After a few minutes of waiting in the silence, the snoring erupted once again from the upper floor. So with that, he passed through the doorway heading outside into the morning air closing it behind him.

Tanner looked out at the morning sky seeing all the colours blending into each other. He breathed in the crisp morning air and then race into the forest that was close by. The tree's leaves danced in the morning light with the trunk's shadows stretching into each other. Tanner still kept quiet as raced through the forest darting between the trees to keep himself hidden. The forest was vast with paths cut through by wandering travellers or their Grimm hunters. As he got deeper into the forest he stopped in a small area between the trees, looking and listen to find where he needed to go to. Though his silent question was answered as he heard a twig snap from his left side.

Tanner quickly jumped up into the canopy of the tree that was directly in front of him waiting to see what was coming from behind him. He waited silently in the tree for the figure to approach as it did his answer was revealed. Alone Creep came out of the bush almost sniffing the air as it tried to determine where its prey had run off too.

As the Creep was hunting for Tanner, Tanner decided not to hide from it for too long. So with the thought in his head, he reached behind him and once again pulled out Basecutter from their rest on his belt. And as they folded out over his arms he lept out from the tree loosening the ribbon that was wrapped around the blade. But as Tanner did this the Creep looked up towards him but it was already too late. For as looked up Tanner was already falling over the beast with one of his blades aimed down over its neck. Then in a swift motion as if guillotine had been used Tanner landed on the back of the Creep with his blade pierced through its spine. The Creep was thrown onto its stomach as Tanner landed on its back as it began to dissolve.

Tanner dismounted the dissolving Creep and looked around for another that might have still been laying in wait. Once he was sure that there were no others he headed down the left that the Creep had come from. As he proceeded down this path he was interrupted by other Creep coming out of the bush sometimes he caught them off guard. And other times they caught him off guard as the sprang from the bushes around the trees. Though this only helped him to determine which route he was to take.

After a while of running through the forest, he came upon a clearing that was full of Creep wandering around. They were some distance away so they paid him no as they walked around waiting for their chance to hunt their prey.

Tanner hid behind a small outcrop of rocks that gave him a good sight to the hoard but still kept him mostly concealed. But as he did Tanner slowly began to realise how in over his head he was. Ever since their split up Tanner had never dealt with a large gathering of Grimm in a single location by himself. Sure he had fought against Groups of Grimm at times but this different. The number of them was easily in the double digits and they were tightly packed together with a few of them on the outskirts of the group.

As he hid behind the rocks Tanner start to think through his plan of attack. At first, he thought about charging towards the pack in a mad rush to take them off guard. A faint smile crept across his face as he felt the adrenalin creep through his system. His first move would be to generate a large pressure wave to knock half down while he runs toward them. And as he runs towards the Creep he would fire a couple shots from his weapons along with a couple smaller pressure waves.

But as he thought through the plan he quickly realised that if he did that he would soon be overtaken by their sheer numbers alone. Even if he could survive the initial attack from them he would submit to the horde if he didn't have any help from others.

He then thought about drawing them out one at a time by throwing rocks at the Creep leading them towards him. But as he thought through his plan he quickly realised the obvious problem. That as he got closer to the centre of the group he would start to have larger groups of them wandering over to him. That, in turn, would lead to louder fighting that would cause the rest to rush toward him. Leading him to the same issue he wished to avoid.

Tanner slowly started to think up his next plan as he watched the Creep from a distance keeping himself hidden from their senses. As another plan started to take shape inside of his mind he heard a sound from behind him. His mind snapped out of the dream-like trance he was in as all of his attention had shifted to whatever was coming up behind him.

He kept still waiting for the for his unknown attacker to get close to him so that he could strike them. However, he didn't merely wait for his attacker to jump on him. As Tanner kept his sense tuned behind he started to shift his blades into their secondary from revealing the barrels between their blades. Tanner waited for what felt like the last minute before he turned around pointing his barrels to his assailant.

"Hey! where do you think you pointing those things?" Kore quietly asked as she raised her hands in front of her self.

"What are you doing here?" Tanner asked as he lowered his weapons shifting them back into their base state.

"I came out here to find you" Kore quietly answered as she lowered herself behind the outcrop of stones. "What the heck do you think you're doing out here?"

Tanner shifted his gaze from kore and back to the horde of Creep that was still wandering around letting out a silent sigh of relief that they were not spotted yet. "I'm out here to get rid of them," Tanner quietly answered as he pointed towards the Creep "You mentioned that you had a Grimm issue so I figured I take a look into it."

"we didn't ask you to look into it though. there is no reason for you to do this." Kore stated.

"Yeah, you didn't ask but I just thought I would do it," Tanner said as he shrugged his shoulders towards Kore as he saw nothing wrong with it.

Kore let out a sigh of annoyance as she facepalmed herself as she just shook her head from side to side out of annoyance. "Well then do you have a plan?" she asked though given how she was looking at him he knew that it didn't really matter what he said.

Tanner kept quiet for a few minutes as looked towards the Creep and then back towards Kore then quickly looking back towards Creep once more before he spoke up again. "You know what I might actually have one," Tanner cautiously exclaimed, "Though I might need your help with it though."


End file.
